I Can Learn to Love Again
by KatherineSalvatore1918
Summary: Sequel to I Can Never Love Again. Damon and Elena have been in a three month relationship, working on their fourth. His relationship with Lana Mercer has been ruined, until she returns with no memories of the past three months and no emotions to tag along with it. Soon, multiple things go wrong, and Damon must his choice and stay with it this time. Mainly D/OC, a little S/OC.
1. I

**Hello, everyone! New readers and old readers…**

**For the new readers, this is a sequel to my other Damon/OC, ****_I Can Never Love Again. _****I suggest you read that story first, but it's up to you, really. **

**For old readers, I'm back, guys! I'm sorry for that little cliffhanger, but here we are…and I'm picking up three months after I left off. **

**So, basically, the summer has passed and it's almost time for school again. Though this chapter has nothing to do with school or anything, it's mainly reintroducing and there's a little twist :) But you probably found that little twist out in the summary. **

**So…that's really it. Enjoy, everyone!**

**Disclaimer: TVD is not mine, but my characters Lana Mercer and Hannah Davis are mine, along with the writing and the plotline. This story is going off of MY UNIVERSE, so I'm continuing without the show. You're welcome (because I didn't want you guys to wait three months).**

**By the way, the rating will probably change in future chapters. I'm thinking about changing it to M. Tell me what you think...**

* * *

**_I_**

The woods were mostly quiet, with the slight exception of nocturnal animals making noises in the background and the quiet pitter-patter of rain hitting the forest floor. It wasn't cold outside, despite the rain, but it was humid and muggy.

Light breathing occurred from the soaked ground, and the girl the breathing belonged to stirred. Her eyes opened slowly, only to have drops of water fall into her eyes. She blinked multiple times before looking left and right, slowly regaining her senses.

_Where am I? _She asked herself, focusing in on her hearing. Rain, animals, thunder, and lightning were all she heard in the confinements of her range. When she expanded further, she found car engines and horns blaring.

She sat up and looked down at her clothes. Blotches of red stains covered her already fire-red dress that was soaked and crusted in mud and suspicious substances. She even had shoes on, but they were stained with that same red substance.

But she didn't care. Her mouth hurt and her stomach rumbled. She was hungry.

Getting up like there was nothing wrong at all, she looked around the forest with one thing in her mind: food. She picked up heartbeats, but they weren't appetizing. It looked like she would have to go out to the road she heard.

The rain poured on her face and dripped down to the ground as she looked at her high-heeled shoes. Making a snap decision, she avoided sinking into the mud and took her shoes off one by one and used her special powers to race across the woods.

And when she heard a heartbeat right outside of the forest, she licked her lips and gripped the shoes in her hand.

The rain still poured greatly as she exited the forest and looked side to side again. A man was on the corner of the road, talking on the phone, soaked in the rain. She was, too, but the rain slid off of her as easily as how hard she would care.

"Look, I need a tow car out here and I need it now!" he yelled over the rain. "I locked myself out of the car after I got a flat tire and it's raining and there's a storm watch."

A few moments passed before the man sighed and threw his hands up in the air. "Well I guess I have no other choice. Fuck." He groaned. "My license plate is XPA-2298. I'm going to walk to the nearest gas station." With a hard snap, he shut his phone and ran a hand through his wet hair.

The girl made her way over to the guy, trying desperately to contain the hunger that rippled through her body with an intense cry. She gripped her shoes tighter as she jogged up to the man.

"Excuse me!" she yelled over the rain in an innocent voice. The man looked at her and his face immediately softened. "Excuse me, do you have a phone? My boyfriend just dropped me off in the middle of nowhere and I really need someone to come pick me up." She gave a sad smile.

The man nodded. "Sure." He handed the phone to the girl and she smiled before thanking him.

"Thank you," she said.

"No problem." He turned for a moment and looked around. "Sorry about your boyfriend." He wasn't sorry at all, in fact.

"It's okay," she teased. "I think I'm much happier with you."

The man paused. "Really?" he asked, his eyes shining with lust.

She stepped closer to him and nodded. "Really," she admitted. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Ben," he answered. "Yours?"

"Lana," she complied. "Lana Mercer."

_Enough with the games, _her mind snapped blandly. _Kill the bastard and be done with it._

"You going to make that call?" Ben asked her, smiling slightly.

Lana shook her head. "No," she said vaguely. Ben raised his eyebrows as she drew her fangs and pulled him close, drowning out his screams as she tore her teeth into his flesh and drank endlessly with no remorse, no guilt, and no pain.

His body dropped to the ground lifelessly, and she didn't bother to clean him up. With a slight shrug, she turned, with her shoes tight in hand, and walked down the road, never mind the rain.

* * *

"You _obviously _still have feelings for her, Damon!" Elena yelled at him, shaking her head.

Damon sighed, exasperated. "Elena, how can I possibly have feelings for a women who left me for my brother and hasn't communicated with me in months?"

"You're always miserable and never willing to talk about what happened before Stefan and Lana went away," Elena explained. "I want to talk about it, Damon. Right after I chose you and she saw, you ran out to her instead of staying with me."

Damon frowned. "Elena, I've been with you for three months and I'm letting your brother move into the boarding house while you're at college." He paused. "What more could you possibly want?"

Elena crossed her arms over her chest and bit her lip. She hadn't really mentioned Lana since she left, but Damon had been looking on his phone earlier and had found a picture of Lana and her friends at the Just Dance party. Accidentally, he had left it out and Elena found it. For three months, they had been together, dating and coming home to each other every night – inseparable. He was still going to visit her at college, but he was worried about their future together.

On some level, though, he knew that Elena was right. He wasn't going to deny it to himself, but to Elena, he had to. He was still in love with the girl he met and abused at a college frat party last October, who grew into his heartbreak at the beginning of the summer. After Elena chose him and his other girlfriend wanted nothing to do with him, he had reluctantly went back to Elena while his ex and his brother were travelling the world with each other and her human friend, doing God-knows-what with God-knows-who. Sometimes, he was curious. Other times, he was angry. Most times, he was sad.

Elena sighed deeply. "I know, Damon," she told him. "I know, and thank you. I'm just a little worried…"

"That she'll come back and change everything between us?" Damon chuckled. "Honey, I don't think Stefan and Lana are going to want to come back. They don't want to see us as much as we don't want to see them."

A full-on lie. Maybe Lana didn't want to see Damon, but he was dying inside to see her. He didn't know if it was worry or pining that made his heart hurt at the thought of her.

The biggest question in his mind was what his brother and his ex were doing _together. _They have a sire bond, no attachments to other people, and are clearly in love with each other – despite the fact that she may love Damon more than Stefan. Right now, they were probably on the beach in the Bahamas, sipping cocktails and holding hands. It made Damon sick to think about it.

He didn't regret his choice. Damon loved Elena more than anything in the world, and Lana knew that when she got into it. But he had hurt her bad when he flat out kissed Elena under the same rooftop while Lana was adjusting to her emotions. It was a terrible thing to do.

And no matter how much he loved Elena, he would always hold a place for Lana in his heart.

"Maybe you're right." Elena sat down on the couch and played with her thumbs. "Damon, I'm sorry, I just…"

Damon nodded. "I get it." He leaned over and kissed Elena, holding her face with his hand. "But you need to stop being paranoid about it." He paused. "I chose you, right?"

Elena gave him a slight smile. "Right."

* * *

"That'll be three hundred and thirty two dollars," the sales clerk told Lana at the register. Lana smiled and shook her head.

"No, I don't think so," she said sweetly. "I think it's free." The compulsion drew the sales clerk in, and with a nod, the clerk spoke.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie, it's on us." The clerk gave a small smile, which Lana returned. She left without so much as a "Thank you".

When she got outside, she looked back and forth on the street. It was streaming with sun outside, but it didn't matter to her because she had her daylight ring safely secured on her finger. It was a simple, elegant ring with a gold band that separated to hold the lapis lazuli in the center. She had just bought clothing from the store behind her, and worn them out.

She was wearing a black shirt with black jeans and a black leather jacket. The only thing she had on besides her ring that she hadn't washed was the Louboutins that were on her feet before. Lana had made the snap decision to wash the blood off of the shoes instead of buy new ones.

Lana had caught onto where she was, which was Richmond, Virginia. So, it seems, she hadn't left the state at least. All she remembered last was leaving the Salvatore boarding house and then waking up in the woods.

Not that she cared, though it would've been good to know where she'd been all this time.

With nothing else to do, she walked down the street and found a bar & grill, and she felt like she wanted human food. Maybe she would even grab a vampire snack on her way out.

She sat down at the bar in the back and ordered a shot of tequila. After she received it and downed it in one shot, a man who ordered two tequila shots accompanied her. Lana smiled and twisted her empty glass as the man spoke to her.

"David," the man said to Lana. She turned to him and gave a small smile.

"Lana," she introduced. Right after the man smiled at her and opened his mouth, a buzzing occurred from her pocket and she held up a finger.

It was her phone – the phone she had found in her bra while she was changing in the store. It was someone from her contacts – a familiar someone. With a slight shake of her head, she pressed the lock button on her phone and slipped it back into her pocket.

"Sorry," she apologized and leaned forward. "Anyway, thank you for the drink."

"No problem," David responded. "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be drinking alone in a bar. Are you from around here?" he asked.

Lana paused. "Mystic Falls," she told him. "It's a small town, you probably don't know it."

"Oh, I have relatives there." He paused. "Some freaky things happen in that town."

A smile stretched across the vampire's face. "You have no idea."

* * *

After she dropped the lifeless body on the ground and kicked it to the side of the dumpster, Lana straightened her bra and shirt before tousling her hair and walking off. She pulled out her phone to find one missed call and one voice mail.

With a light sigh, Lana unlocked her phone to listen to the voicemail.

"Lana," a familiar voice breathed through the other side of the phone. "I know you probably don't want me calling, but I was just thinking about you and…I don't know why I'm even calling." The man gave a nervous laugh. "I just wanted to see if you're okay. How you've been doing. God, I must sound like an idiot." He paused. "Just…call me. Please. If you can bear it," he added before saying his parting and hanging up, where the voicemail ended.

_Damon Salvatore,_ her mind repeated. Memories flashed – happy memories, sad memories, angry memories, the memories she wanted to push away in her mind forever, and the memories she would want to cherish if she hadn't turned her humanity switch off.

But she had turned her humanity switch off – for a reason unknown (and pointless) to her – and there was no going back. She deleted the voicemail and walked off.

_Mystic Falls, _her mind repeated blankly. The memories flashed again – Whitmore, the Boarding House, Damon's bedroom. All the countless hours she spent there. The horrific last minutes she spent in the house. But she felt absolutely nothing watching those memories unfold. Damon was apart of her past.

But a tiny little light went on in the back of her brain. It would get boring in Richmond soon, and she distinctly remembered Damon taking Elena to New York when she was emotionless. Maybe he would do the same with her.

Lana looked around cautiously before she saw a couple getting out of a lavish sports car on the side of the road. With a smirk, she walked over to them and smiled.

"Can I help you?" the woman snapped while the man smiled. Lana nodded and began to compel.

"Yes, you can," she replied. "I want your car. Keys, please?" The woman handed over the keys and Lana smiled. "You don't remember me or this conversation. Bye now."

As soon as she dismissed them, the couple walked into the restaurant mindlessly while Lana smirked to herself. She had just snagged herself a Porsche. Is it_ Porsche_ or is it _Porscha? _

It didn't matter to her as she climbed into the driver's seat, put the car in drive, and raced off onto the Interstate highway.

* * *

**Next chapter…our old two lovers will meet again. Happy meeting, sad meeting, angry meeting, or surprise meeting? All I know is that I met Zach Roerig, Kat Graham, and Nathaniel Buzolic today and I'm meeting Ian and Paul tomorrow…again. Freaking out over here!**

**Anyways…more soon. Laters :)**

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more! _**

**_Feedback is always appreciated. I love to hear your thoughts!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**

******By the way, the rating will probably change in future chapters. I'm thinking about changing it to M. Tell me what you think...**


	2. II

**SO…LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY TIME WITH IAN SOMERHALDER. But I'm going to tell you guys about him at the bottom because otherwise, this chapter will not be written. **

**JUST LET ME SAY, he held my hand for like two minutes and squeezed it twice and was like "I love you, too!" and I nearly fainted. Just saying. **

**The rest is at the bottom. **

**Okay, moving on…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, but I own Lana, the writing, and the plotline. Warning – a little provocative language in this chapter, but I've decided that I'm not going to change the rating. But, I'll be making a new story soon and I'll make that one rated M.**

* * *

_**II**_

"Lana!"

She turned around to see a boy running towards her, out of breath with a smile on his face. Who he was, she didn't know and she didn't care.

"Lana," he repeated. "I'm so glad I found you. Everyone said you weren't coming back here." The boy smiled wider. A certain familiarity went along with it, but he wasn't doing it for her. He probably wasn't even worth the effort to snatch and eat.

She was on campus at Whitmore, where she figured Damon and Elena would be since it was the day before the very first day of college. How she knew this…her memory knew, but she didn't care about it. The old Lana must've really cared about school – even though she ditched it to be with a 165 year-old vampire.

A name attached to the face she had in front of her. With a long sigh, she gave a false smile. "Jackson," she stated. He grinned wider, as if she'd just made his heart flutter by saying his name.

"I thought you weren't coming back," he repeated. Lana picked at her nails and removed the dirt underneath.

"Yeah, well, I'm not," she said coldly. "Do you know a Damon Salvatore? Possibly with an Elena Gilbert?" From her memories, Lana found it easiest to find Elena – because wherever Elena was, Damon would be ninety-nine percent of the time.

"I don't know a Damon, but I do know Elena. Just met her, in fact." Jackson paused. "She was at the Miss Mystic competition, right? Sweet girl, really—"

"Actually, she's a man stealing bitch," Lana said flatly, looking over Jackson's shoulder to see the brunette doppelganger laughing with that blonde friend of hers – Caroline. "But thanks for the help, Jacob."

"It's Jackson, Lana."

"Yeah, well, who the hell cares?" Lana gave him a pat on the back and smiled while walking off towards Elena's direction. Lana could hear Jackson mumble a curse word under her breath, but she honestly couldn't care less.

When she made her way over to Elena, the doppelganger had her back to her while she was signing something for orientation. But she still had the same sickening sweetness in her voice – pretending to be innocent when, really, she could give a shit less about everyone else except herself. Lana stood and waited as Elena turned and ran _smack _into the emotionless vampire.

Elena was as surprised as a deer in headlights. Lana smiled vindictively. "Hello, Elena," she greeted.

"Lana," Elena said, breathless. "Lana, what are you doing here?"

"Your boyfriend called me," Lana stated blandly. "Missed me, I guess. You seem to not be satisfying his needs." Lana tilted her head. "What? Too innocent to go down on a man?"

Elena crossed her arms. "Damon called you?" she asked, obviously bitter.

"Are you deaf?" Lana asked rhetorically and sighed. "Whatever, that's besides the point. I actually wanted to come see him anyway. Do you know where he is?" she asked.

"Why?" Elena demanded. "What do you want? To get back together with him?" Elena crossed her arms protectively. Lana laughed sharply.

"Sweet, innocent Elena." Lana shook her head. "Why would I want to get back with Damon when I have a million other guys at this campus waiting for me to give them the time of their lives, and then _end it_?" Her tone was so bland that it made Elena shiver. "I don't _need _Damon this time, but I'm almost positive he needs me."

"Yeah, and why is that?" Elena countered. Lana shrugged.

"To take him out of this hellhole and escape to a place like New York again." Lana paused. "I figured, since you had so much fun away with Damon on that little trip, I would do him a favor and we'd go alone this time." Lana pouted. "Sorry, Elena, there's no room in my Porsche." Lana brushed past Elena, shoving her with her shoulder. "Let me know when you find Damon, and let him know that I'm looking for him."

Lana walked away without another glance towards the doppelganger. Elena stared with a suspicious look, but she didn't have enough time to analyze. Her cell phone rang sharply in her pocket and she took it out to read the caller ID she didn't want to hear from right now.

"Hello?" she whispered into the phone, but Lana was probably all the way across campus by that time.

"Why are you whispering?" Damon demanded into the phone. "Classes don't start today and your brother's not around…"

"Meet me at the Grill in twenty," Elena snapped and hung up the phone. But it turns out, Lana wasn't across the campus by now – she was talking to a twenty-something boy. But her eyes weren't focused on the boy, there were focused on Elena, with a vindictive smile on her face.

* * *

"You _called _her!"

_Oops, _Damon thought with a sigh. How did she find out?

Elena walked into the Grill and sat down with an angry thud as she said the words. Damon sipped his alcohol and smiled at her.

"Hello to you, too, Elena. How was your day?" Damon mocked. Elena frowned at him.

"Damon, I'm serious." She paused. "I thought you said you were over her."

"Now, I have no idea who you're talking about." Damon gave a slight grin, but Elena wasn't buying it. Damon sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Elena, I don't know how many times we can have this argument. _I. Chose. You_. We've been together for three months. I'm letting your brother move in with me. We sleep together. We go out on dates. Doesn't this argument sound familiar?" he said sourly.

Elena glared at him. "Why'd you call her, Damon? She said that you said you missed her."

For a moment, Damon didn't catch the '_She said' _part of his girlfriend's statement. Who said? Was it _her_? Was she really _here_?

Damon cleared his throat and didn't react to Elena's statement. "Elena, she's a heartbroken girl who's obviously still in love with me," he lied. "I never called her and I didn't say I missed her. Whatever she said, it's a lie." He leaned forward and kissed Elena on the mouth and pulled away quickly. "I've got to go, though, I have to meet Sheriff Forbes soon." Elena's sour face didn't disappear. Damon put a hand under her chin and kissed her again. "Sweetheart, I love you. Stop being so worried. I don't love Lana anymore." What a horrible lie, but he couldn't tell her the truth.

He rushed out as fast as he could and kept moving while looking around. It was still bright outside, but the sun would be setting soon. Damon kept walking, far enough out of Elena's hearing range.

"I hope I didn't ruin any master plan to get her to do something special for you tonight," a voice said from beside him. Damon turned his head and his heart froze for a moment. Lana smiled before him. "I didn't mean to cause any problems – Scout's Honor." She held up a hand and giggled lightly.

"Lana," Damon exhaled largely. "Lana, you're back."

She jumped off of the ledge she had been sitting on and rolled her eyes. "Don't go all sentimental on me, now, Damon, I'm just back for a favor." Lana looked him up and down. "But _damn. _I'm thinking about asking another favor from you at the moment."

Something was wrong. His body was telling him that something was wrong. She was dressed in all black – a black leather jacket, a black shirt, and black jeans. Her hair had been let down loose and spilled over her shoulders in small waves. She looked the same as ever, but she didn't feel the same.

"Lana, what's wrong?" Damon asked carefully.

"Nothing!" Lana laughed, smiling widely. "Absolutely nothing, Damon! Everything is perfect! I don't feel...anything! It's like I can see so much clearer." She exhaled. "All I felt after that night was pain…but it's all gone now." Lana shrugged. "It's absolutely amazing."

_No, _Damon said to himself with a large disappointment. He wanted to break down and beg her to turn them back on. _She's emotionless. Shit. Lana's emotionless. I did this to her. _Being emotionless just magnified his guilt by ten times.

"You turned your emotions off because of me?" he asked, his voice shrinking. A laugh escaped Lana's lips and she shrugged.

"To be honest," she admitted, "I don't even remember how it happened. I woke up and I felt so much better inside, it was like I hadn't even been heartbroken or had felt any of those things I did feel when I relived those memories of you raping and abusing me for your own personal gain." She gave him a small smirk.

Damon scowled, because now he was pissed just a tiny bit. "I hate to break it to you, but it's not rape if you enjoy it," he said through his teeth. Lana pushed her bottom lip out.

"Aw, did I hurt your feelings, Damon?" she asked with a light giggle. "Sorry, baby, I know how much you pride yourself on your sexual abilities."

He was done with the foreplay; it was time to get down to the real question. "What are you doing here, Lana, if you're not back for me?"

"I wanted to see if you were up for a little road trip with me." Lana tilted her head at him. "Did you really think I was?" she asked. When he raised his eyebrows, she added, "Back for you?"

He was silent for a moment before Lana rolled her eyes. "I know I'm not supposed to care – and don't get me wrong, I don't. But if I do ever get my emotions back, I know I'll kick myself for not saying this. So why the hell do you even _care_?" she asked him abruptly. "If I remember correctly, _you _left _me. _Not the other way around. But as long as I stay emotionless, I could give a fuck less who you sleep with or who you love. I'm just bored and I want someone who has been emotionless to help me learn the ropes."

Damon gave her a cold, hard stare. "You wouldn't let me talk to you that night," he said angrily. "You walked out, _convinced _that because I kissed Elena, it meant that I was done with you." He paused. "Maybe if you had stuck around a little longer, I would've surprised you. But you were done with me and moving onto my brother by the second you left the house."

All of his anger had been building up in his body since that night, and it had just popped open right then and there. Damon put the lid on that anger before it got out of control and he said something he shouldn't have. It was still the same Lana, despite the fact that she was emotionless now.

But what was he supposed to do? He couldn't leave Elena to be with Lana, because she would think he was still in love with Lana. If he lost Elena and Lana at the same time, he wouldn't know how to move on.

Lana put her hand on her hip. "And that's supposed to make me feel better?" She laughed. "Anyway, Damon, I'm done with the talk about our past. I'm focused on having the best time of my life for the next hundred years." Lana gave him a smile. "What do you say?" she asked.

Damon thought it over for a moment. "Listen," he said carefully. "I can't go on a road trip with you right now."

Lana's face dropped instantly and he could see that look in her eyes – she was ready to move on. Damon reached out and grabbed her as she turned, and he spun her back to him. "You didn't let me finish," he growled.

"So forceful." She smiled at him widely. He released her arm and rubbed his forehead.

"You can stay with me at the house," Damon offered. "I'll take you out whenever you want. Just don't leave again, please." He was begging now, and it was so unlike him. But he had been separated from her too long, and he was angry that she didn't hear him out before she jumped in that car with his brother and left.

Lana looked at him for a moment before breaking out into a laugh. "Damon, I'm not the same Lana I was before that night that I left you," she warned him. "I've killed at least a dozen people on the way here, and I'm not going to stop. If you try and vervain me, I'm not going to give up like Elena did." She paused. "I have _nothing _left to lose."

It was sad, the way that was true. Elena thought she didn't have anything to lose, but she cared about people – Matt, Caroline, Bonnie, Stefan, and _him_. If Damon tried to get Lana to turn her emotions back on, there would be no one she would turn them on for except for him, and even then, she seemed like her heartbreak had turned to hatred towards him. She would probably be happy if he was dead.

"No vervain," Damon promised. "Mystic Falls is where you belong." Damon smiled for a moment. "If you get bored, I promise I'll take you to New York," he teased.

"So we can have sex on the rooftop again?" she asked with a smirk. "You have to admit, that was probably one of the best encounters we've ever had."

Damon laughed. "Sure," he admitted. "But there can't be any more of that now," he warned. "I'm with Elena. You lost your chance."

Lana chuckled loudly before brushing past Damon and turning around to face him. "Damon, I don't think I've made this clear enough." She paused. "I don't _care._" She turned around and walked off in the direction of a group of boys who were waiting for her.

_Ouch, _Damon thought to himself. He didn't think that it would sting that bad, but it really did. He was committed to one person and one person only, yet he wanted so bad to be committed to another person. It's not that he couldn't be committed to one person, but Elena wouldn't be happy about the housing situation.

* * *

"Well?" Elena asked when Damon returned to the Boarding House. It was pitch-black outside now. "How was your talk with Sheriff Forbes?"

Damon sat down on the couch next to Elena and grabbed her hand.

"About that…"

"You saw Lana instead?" Elena asked, as if reading Damon's mind. He looked over at her, but didn't bother denying it.

"Yeah," he admitted. "And I did something you're not going to like?"

Elena frowned. "If she forced herself on you, it wasn't really your fault. And I'm more than happy to give an injection of vervain if I have to. She might be bitchier than I was," Elena mumbled.

"Elena, she has no one left," Damon explained. Elena widened her eyes, as if challenging Damon to his statement. "No, Elena. Not like you lost your _family, _she's lost _everything. _She has no family – not that I know of – no friends besides that human girl who's nowhere to be found, and nothing to live for. I was the only one in her life." He paused. "And I'm not hers anymore. Even if we lock her up in that cage, she'll never turn her emotions back on. It'll only want to make her keep them, just like it made you do the same."

"She still cares about you," Elena said after a moment. Damon shook his head.

"No," he said. "No. I blew up that ship when I jumped onto yours." Damon stopped for a moment. "But I haven't regretted it, Elena." His stomach churned with conflicted feelings. What _did _he feel? Love for an emotionless bitch or love for a compassionate vampire who chose him over his brother.

Elena leaned forward and kissed Damon, and this time it wasn't so quick. They kissed deeper, his hand holding her face in place. But just as he moved up to lie on top of her, the door busted open and a voice rung through the house.

Giggling occurred before Lana spoke. "I'm back!" she sing-songed. Two boys came in behind her, holding her hands. She moved them in the directions towards the stairs. "I'll just take one of the guest rooms." She looked at Damon, who looked at Elena, who looked at both of them. "Sorry if I was interrupting anything…no, wait, I'm not sorry." The boys went upstairs as Lana poured herself a glass of whiskey and downed it in one gulp. After a sour cringe, she looked at both of them.

"Okay, well, I'm going upstairs." Lana paused at the bottom of the stairs to look at Damon. "By the way, Damon, you know how to take care of bodies, right?" She shot him a smile as he nodded slightly. "Great. I'll be with them…don't mind the screams or whatever's going to go on up there. You know, it's a good thing the house is mostly soundproof." Lana stopped and snapped her fingers. "Oh, _shit. _That's right. When you two were having sex, it was _definitely _not soundproof." Lana shrugged lightly. "Oh, well! See you in the AM!" Lana raced up the stairs and a door slammed.

Elena looked at Damon, who gave her a small smile. "I can explain."

* * *

**Okay…so let's see. Where should I start? When I went up to Ian in the photo line for Paul and Ian, he was so sweet to me again. He called me sweetheart and then like pulled me close and we took the picture. And then he said I rock and winked at me and I almost died on the floor. Yeah…don't mind that. **

**And then when I went up for his solo photo, he put his arm around me and hugged me and then he held my hand and I told him I loved him (stupidly, might I add), but he didn't care and he said it back and squeezed my hand twice. I almost died on the floor again, can I just say. **

**Okay, I'm shortening it, but LET ME JUST SAY. If you're a Nian fan, I feel really sorry for you because it comes from personal experience and my mom's experience. Everything that Ian signed (including my banner) that had Nina's face on it, he just scowled at it for a moment and then started talking to everyone. He was ****_not _****happy with Nina's face on my banner, and he was all like "You should just cut her out" and stuff. But he was so sweet to me! I felt like I was on cloud 9! I thought he was going to do something more for me, and he was, but one of the ladies sitting next to him was like "Ian! Keep the line moving, please." And he looked at her and said, "Please. Stop rushing me." But then he apologized to me and I had to leave. A lot of the volunteers there were really rude when it came to Ian. They wanted him all to themselves and it bothered the hell out of me. How much did I pay for that convention? I'm getting a few minutes with him. I think he felt the same way because he made a comment to my mom later in the evening like "I really hate when I have to rush all my fans like that, and I really wanted to talk to them all." But the whole time, he AND PAUL were SOOO mad at the volunteers because they kept pushing people on them when they weren't done with other people. Paul went over to this one girl and was like "Please stop rushing them." They weren't pleased, and it didn't please me, either. **

**But OMG just…Ian said he loved me! And then I got his Sharpie because he gave it to my mom to give to me :)**

**Phew. Inhale. I really love him, guys, if you can't tell. **

**Anyway….so I hope you enjoyed the chapter. More soon, but I have to update everything else first. Watch out for a new story though… ;)**

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more updates!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	3. III

**Hi, guys! I'm sorry to say that I deleted two of my stories, one TVD one and one Gossip Girl one, but I uploaded a new VD story in its place and am going to upload another Vampire Diaries story later on (whether it's today or tomorrow). I just wanted to let you know so you can go check it out. It's called ****_Don't Trust Me, _****and it's a Damon/OC. Nothing different :)**

**Anyways, regarding ****_this _****story, I'm glad to hear that you all like the emotionless Lana! She'll be in emotionless probably until around the 12****th**** chapter, but the circumstances will be drastic. And then, Silas will come back around that time. **

**But now we have to worry about Lana, Elena, and Damon's relationship! I know I'm going to make you guys hold onto Damon and Lana's relationship a little longer, just because I'm mean like that! :P **

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter! And afterwards, just do two things for me if you can!**

**1. Read my new Vampire Diaries story, ****_Don't Trust Me._**

**2. Vote on my poll for what story you want me to update.**

**That's it! Enjoy…**

**Disclaimer: TVD isn't mine, but Lana, the writing, and the plotline is. Outfits are on Polyvore and the links are on my profile page!**

* * *

**_III_**

"Good morning."

Damon turned around, stopping mid-laughter. On rare occasions he would try and make up with Elena for doing something wrong, he would cook for her. Elena stopped, mid-laughter also, and looked at the intruder that pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. Lana smiled at the both of them. "Don't stop on my account," she said, picking at her fingernails. She propped her smooth, bare legs on the table and picked at lint on her grey off-the-shoulder t-shirt and black shorts. "Though, Damon, I'm going to need a little help with getting rid of the bodies upstairs."

"How can you just kill them and act like it's not a big deal?" Elena challenged. Damon looked over at his girlfriend.

"Elena—" Damon started before Lana interrupted him.

"It's simple, actually," Lana explained. "I have sex with them, compel them, and kill them." Lana shrugged. "It's actually quite exhilarating. Though it usually doesn't happen that fast. It's kind of fun to tease my prey before I finish them off." Lana's eyes moved over to Damon. "Isn't that right, sweetheart?"

Damon lowered his eyes. How could she make him feel so bad when she was emotionless? Inside, he knew that the hatred for him abusing her while she was human was always there, but he didn't expect for her to turn emotionless and torture him about it.

Lana got up out of her chair and moved over to Elena and Damon by the stove. She pushed them apart and saw the eggs cooking on the stove. "Mm!" Lana gasped. "Yum! Eggs!" She looked over at Damon. "For me?" She batted her eyelashes. "You shouldn't have."

"He didn't," Elena mumbled and looked over at Damon. Damon gave her an apologetic look and he began to talk to Lana.

"Actually, Lana, they're not for you, but if you want, I'll make you something," he offered. Elena looked down at Lana's hand to see the lapis lazuli ring wrapped around her finger. Suddenly, she had an idea to prevent killing for the rest of the day. If she didn't take matters into her own hands, Damon would let the vampire run around town loose like Elena was. That couldn't happen.

"She can have my egg," Elena said quickly as she walked over to the table to grab her bag. "I'm running late anyway."

Damon stared at Elena, as if calling her bullshit. Elena only gave a small smile and kissed him on the lips deeply, not giving him room to breathe. Lana just shrugged and turned towards the pan, where she turned off the burner and grabbed the handle to maneuver it. When Elena finally pulled away, she smiled at Damon.

"Bye," she said at last. Damon nodded and swallowed hard.

"Bye," he croaked.

Lana snapped her fingers with the hand that wasn't holding the pan. "So _that's _why you called me, Damon! She was leaving you all high and dry!" Lana laughed. "I _knew _sex was the reason."

"I didn't call you," Damon snarled through his teeth.

Elena drew in a deep breath and whispered "Behave" to her boyfriend before leaving.

"That _bitch_!"

It was only two seconds after Elena had left the house that the words came out as a growl from Lana's lips. Lana flew to the door in an instant, but Elena was nowhere to be seen, and the sun began to beat down on her skin, making the vampire exterior burn. She cringed back into the house and let out another low growl.

"What happened?" Damon demanded, a look of concern on his face.

"Your _bitch _girlfriend took my ring!" Lana snarled. Damon crossed his arms and smiled.

"I sense some anger," he told her, grinning widely. She shot a glance at him.

"You would be, too, if it means you have to spend the whole day holed up in a house with _you_."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Jeremy Gilbert bounced down the stairs and smiled at Lana and Damon. "Damon," he acknowledged. "Lana."

"Jeremy," they said in unison. Jeremy moved past Lana and opened the door, where she hissed and flashed into a dark corner in the living room.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked, raising his eyebrows. Lana hissed and Damon realized that she wasn't exactly happy at the moment, if she was even capable of happiness.

"Nothing," Damon snapped. "Get out of here, Jeremy. Fast." Jeremy looked back and forth between them before he finally opened the door and left to go to school. It was Elena's first day in college and Jeremy's first day of a new year in high school.

Damon looked back at Lana. "I can't do anything about it, Lana. I'm sorry," he apologized.

She straightened and sighed heavily. "Close the curtains around the house," she said glumly. Damon nodded as she spoke again. "If I'm going to be stuck in this house, Damon, I'm doing something fun."

"Been there, done that," Damon sing-songed. "Don't worry," he told her with a small smile. "I've got the perfect thing for us to do."

* * *

After they had gotten rid of both of the bodies by incinerating them, Damon broke out two bottles of bourbon that he had in his liquor cabinet. He handed one to Lana, who smiled at it.

"Bourbon." She gave him a nod and a grin. "I approve," she said. Damon laughed.

"That's good," he said as he put on some music for them. "Because there's a lot more where that came from," he warned. Damon paused. "I'm sorry Elena took your ring."

Lana shrugged as she got up from the table she was sitting on to take a swig of her bourbon. "Whatever," she said sharply. "She can't stop me from going out in the nighttime." Lana paused to look at Damon. "What's on the agenda for tonight since I can't go out and get breakfast?" she pouted.

His moral compass began to move in his mind. Why was he doing this? Acing like he was emotionless again? Betraying Elena's portrayal of him?

"I love this song!" Lana gasped as _Good Girls Go Bad _by Cobra Starship came on the stereo. She got up and began to dance around, her hair flying in every direction.

But as she danced to the beginning of the song, Damon took a long swig of his bourbon and thought some more.

As much as Lana might make comments about him abusing her when she was human, she really _didn't _hate him. And then there was Elena, who couldn't _stand _Damon when he was…well, _himself. _A vampire. Elena wanted him to be a sweet, innocent, Stefan-vampire. Sure, she might not mind that he fed out of blood bags, but she obviously minded if he fed off the vein, considering the fact that she took Lana's ring in the morning. He tilted the bourbon bottle back again.

_How could you be so blind? _His subconscious groaned at him. _Lana – that girl _right _in front of you – never cared that you were a ruthless vampire. She embraced it. She never _once _minded the fact that you wanted to feed off the vein. Hell, she let you feed off of her – no mind tricks that time. _

_And yet you leave her…for Elena. _

_Shut up! _Something in his head snapped at that voice. He was having an inner argument. _Elena's the love of my life! And she loves me now. _Me.

_Yeah, when she was a vampire, _his subconscious scoffed. _Not when she was human. Lana was ready to tell you she loved you when she was a vampire. She met Stefan, too. _The voice paused. _Idiot, _his subconscious mumbled.

"Come on, Damon!" Lana giggled, dancing around. "Join me!" She flashed to the stereo, turned it up loud, and grabbed Damon's hand. Both of them put down the bourbon bottles and began to dance.

It reminded him of the old days as he laughed with Lana – the days when he wouldn't give a fuck about who he drank, what he drank, or how he lived. It reminded him of the days that he would snap someone's neck ruthlessly and jump on balconies to dance. Damon looked up at that same balcony and bit his lip. Did he dare?

He did.

Damon flashed up to the balcony after a running start and danced, and it made him feel _good. _Something he hadn't felt in the last three months. For the last three months, he had felt love and compassion. Yes, maybe a little fun and lust between the sheets, but never once outside of bed. Just compassion.

As Lana made the leap from the ground to the balcony in a flash, he began to feel that…_fun. _That _rush _you get when you have a good time. Maybe it wasn't love or compassion, but it was the most fun he'd had in the last three months.

Lana pulled Damon off of the balcony and moved him over to the stairs. They both danced up the stairs until they reached one of the first bedrooms on the left.

Suddenly, it wasn't fun anymore when they were in Stefan's room. Elena and Damon had agreed to leave it untouched if Stefan ever tried to return. It was cold. Damon felt hollowness down inside of him. A part of him missed his brother.

"This was…Stefan's room, right?" Lana asked, laughing. They could still here the music that was still going downstairs. "Oh, Stefan. Always trying to be the good guy for me." Lana sighed heavily and looked at Damon. "To be honest, it was a little tiring."

"You never told me what happened," Damon told her carefully. "With Stefan? What happened while you were gone?" Lana's back was to him as he asked the question, and she made a face – one that he couldn't see.

She didn't remember anything since she left the boarding house besides waking up with no emotions in the middle of those woods.

"Lana?" Damon asked carefully. She turned around and laughed slightly.

"Oh, yeah," she said. "Sorry," Lana added with a shrug. "Stefan and I haven't talked since that night we left Mystic Falls." Quickly, Lana tried to move on. "Anyway, Damon, what's been going on with you and the whole hero thing?" She paused to smile. "Elena getting on your nerves yet?"

Damon frowned. "You know, I sense _some _jealousy in your voice when you talk about Elena."

Lana scoffed. "Please," she told him, holding up a hand as if she was stopping him from continuing. "The last thing I would ever be of Elena Gilbert is _jealous." _Lana shrugged. "Besides, you guys look good together."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked, surprised.

Lana busted out laughing. "No!" she chuckled. "I'm sorry! I couldn't keep a straight face!" She struggled to regain her breath. "You and Elena wouldn't look good together on top of all the money in the _world, _Damon! You two don't mix well together." Lana got up and moved towards him. "You're _dangerous, _Damon. A predator. She's…" Lana shrugged and trailed a finger down Damon's chest. "She's timid. A _martyr._"

Damon grabbed Lana's hand and twisted it, trailing his own finger on her palm. "And you?" he asked, his eyes sparkling. "You're _dangerous? _A predator?" he challenged.

"Now I am," she whispered to him, looking him straight in the eyes. She moved her hand away from his and ran her hand through her hair. "Come on!" She giggled grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the room. "Let's _dance_."

* * *

**The next chapter will be of the night, and we'll have some fun there. What do you think Damon's going to do? He's getting a little rebellious, but would you blame him? He's been the good-guy for too long, I believe. I want to see some sexy, badass Damon. I don't know if it's just me…**

**It's Elena. She's doing it to him. ANGRY FACE. **

**Damon was so sexy up on that balcony in season 1, episode 6! I just ****_had _****to bring it back again!**

**Anyways, I hope you liked it! More soon! **

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more updates!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**

**PS: Don't forget to do two things for me if you can!**

**1. Read my new Vampire Diaries story, ****_Don't Trust Me._**

**2. Vote on my poll for what story you want me to update.**

_**Thank you! **_


	4. IV

**I'm going to write this chapter, shower, and finish writing another chapter of one of my other stories. If you guys didn't see, I uploaded a new story called ****_She Said, _****and I would appreciate if you all would read it.**

**Thank you! Enjoy the chapter! Outfits are up on Polyvore, and the links are on my profile page!**

**Disclaimer: I'm really tired of saying them, so just refer to the last couple chapters! But I do own Hannah, who is IN this chapter!**

* * *

**_IV_**

When the sun finally disappeared down the horizon, Lana let out a long, happy breath of relief. She was already dressed to go out and feed, and she was more than ready to have her ring back. She tugged at her leather jacket and walked over to Damon, who was on his phone trying to reach Elena.

"Is she still not answering?" Lana asked curiously. Damon shook his head.

"No," he said, sighing. "I think her phone is off."

Lana shrugged. "Well, as long as it turns back on by tomorrow, I don't care!" she said happily and flashed to the door. Damon gave her a look, as if debating whether or not to go through with going out with his former ex-girlfriend who was now emotionless and didn't care about anyone's feelings.

"Lana, I think I should tell Elena before we go," he admitted. Lana rolled her eyes.

"Well then _text her," _Lana suggested. "It's not _our _fault that her phone is off! Subconsciously, if she _wanted _to know what you were doing, she would've kept her phone on." Lana gestured towards the door. "Now, let's go. I'm hungry."

Damon sighed and realized that the emotionless vampire in front of him was either going to go with him or without him, and he really didn't want a loose vampire with no moral compass running around town. Kind of like he was back in the glory days.

He quickly typed a text message to Elena:

_Tried to call you, but your phone is off. Lana and I are going out and she's impatient. I'm only going out with her to keep an eye on her. We won't go far._

_D_

He sent the message, but ran his eyes over it again. _God, I've gone soft, _Damon thought to himself before he slipped his phone into his pocket and grabbed his leather jacket. Lana smiled at him and they left the boarding house out into the dark night to feed.

* * *

She laid in the middle of the road, motionless. It was just a matter of time.

Lana didn't understand why she had to do this – wait for her prey to come to her. But Damon had convinced her that the fun of it was making them believe that they were safe…until she ripped their throat out unexpectedly. Personally, she didn't see the hype about it. It was more…Damon's thing than hers. But, she was hungry, and she was also open to possibilities.

A headlight shined in the corner of her eye, but she didn't move. The car came close, but stopped right in front of her, coming to a screeching halt.

_I'm getting my nice clothes dirty, _Lana thought with a grimace. But as soon as the smell of fresh blood entered her senses, she lost all train of thought. Suddenly, it didn't matter that her two hundred dollar jeans were getting gravel on them, and neither did it matter that her leather jacket was too hot for the night.

"Oh my God!" the human woman gasped, stepping out of the car. There was only one heartbeat, but it was a heartbeat no less. "Are you okay? Shit. Hold on…let me call nine-one-one," the woman ranted frantically.

In the darkness, Damon nodded. Lana flashed up to a standing position behind the woman in front of her and watched as the woman searched through her pocketbook to find a cell phone. Lana tapped the woman's shoulder and the woman turned around, half-smiling. The human clutched a hand to her chest, as if grasping her heart in relief.

"Oh, good!" The woman laughed nervously. "Thank God. Are you all right?"

"Don't scream," Lana instructed carefully. She was told by Damon to compel the human, even though Lana wanted to hear the humans scream. It was only a precaution in case someone was around. It was still early enough. She bared her fangs and tore into the human's throat, drinking ruthlessly while still savoring the sweet taste.

Damon walked out from the darkness and watched while Lana pulled her head back. The woman stood, dazed, not dead but almost dead. Lana shrugged herself out of the leather jacket, exposing her black tank top underneath.

"It was choking me," she explained. Damon stared as Lana pushed the woman towards Damon. "Come on, Damon," she pressured. "Have a taste. This one's extraordinary." Lana had fed – but not killed – off of two people this evening, while Damon had not fed off of anyone.

Damon looked at Lana, and for a second, he thought about turning it down. But she looked at him, the blood on her lips shining in the pale moonlight, with bloodlust in her eyes, and he knew he couldn't deny her. He couldn't deny himself.

He was starting to feel like _Damon Salvatore _again. And it was exhilarating. Mind-blowing.

Heartbreaking, too.

But that didn't stop him from baring his fangs and securing two tiny holes on the other side of the human's neck. As Damon drank, Lana watched, but then dipped her head down and reinserted her fangs into those same two holes she created before. Both of them fed, together, for the first time. She would've fed with him earlier, if it hadn't been for his idiot brother hogging the beautiful vampire to himself.

But now…Now Damon got to experience it with Lana, and it was _good. _Hot. He felt like the old Damon Salvatore again. The Damon Salvatore who could give a shit less and was a badass killer.

With Elena, he would never feel that way unless she was emotionless. And even with Lana's emotions on, she never made him feel like he had to change.

"Mm," Damon groaned as the human went empty and dropped to the ground, lifeless. Damon had blood on his lips, and it felt good to feed from the vein. _So good…_Damon thought to himself.

He was on a blood high, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was because he'd been starving himself from the vein for three months.

But before he could stop himself – somehow, someway – Lana's lips were locked on his, and the metallic taste of the human's blood merged together with their lips. Damon didn't stop her as she ran her hands through his hair. In fact, he encouraged her by holding her waist in a compromising position.

Something in his pocket vibrated, and he pulled away just in time to grab it before the call was ended on default. For a second, he was stunned. But then he caught hold of reality and turned away from Lana to speak into the phone.

"Hello?" Damon asked.

"Damon," Elena growled on the other side of the phone. "How could you?"

"How could I what?" Damon asked, his heart pounding. He looked around…was Elena here? Did she see his stolen kiss with his ex-girlfriend? His stomach churned.

"How could you let her out of the house?" Elena yelled at him. "I mean, you didn't take it as a hint that I took her ring? I didn't want her killing anyone!" she whined.

"Elena, I can't control her," Damon growled into the phone. He turned around to see Lana picking her leather jacket up from the trunk of the girl's car and slipping it on her shoulders. She tossed her hair up and it landed smoothly, spilling down her body. Damon turned away quickly before he got carried away.

_I can't believe I just kissed her, _Damon thought, rubbing his forehead.

"Meet me at the house in twenty." Elena sighed. "Please?" she added.

"Sure," Damon said. "I think we're all done for the night, anyway," he added.

When he hung up the phone, he turned around to see Lana leaning against the trunk of the woman's car, sighing. "So?" Lana proposed. "How do we get rid of this one? Blow up the car with the body in it? Throw it off of Wickery Bridge?"

"Just…leave it," Damon instructed. "I'll deal with Sheriff Forbes in the morning," he said with a large sigh. Lana smiled up at him.

"Aw, what's the matter, Damon?" she asked, slightly purring. "Afraid to admit that you enjoyed that little duet we had back there?"

"Lana…" Damon trailed off. But he had had enough. He threw his arms up in the air. "Lana, what do you want me to say?" he growled, angry. Lana sighed, not liking the whole 'anger' thing. "I just shared a human body with you, killed a human, and kissed you."

"And you're ashamed of that…why?" she asked, stepping closer to him. "The Damon I know wouldn't be complaining, he would be the one _initiating_." Lana let out a Katherine-like giggle.

"I have a girlfriend," Damon whispered, looking down at her. "Lana…you and I…we can't…"

Lana sighed. "Damon, does _everything _have to be about relationships and sex to you?" she asked him, slightly annoyed. "I'm talking about the feeding, Damon. You were the one who taught me everything I know, Damon. Why do you think I came to you?" she offered. "I just wish you would realize that you're _Damon Salvatore."_Her eyes twinkled lightly. "You're the biggest badass in town. But ever since you got with Elena…you're _not_." She paused to walk away. "You're like Shrek," she offered with a small smile and laugh. "You know, when everyone liked him instead of being afraid of him? All you need to do is that one little _roar…_"

Damon chuckled and hung his head before he jerked it behind him. "Come on," he said carefully. "Elena wants to talk to us."

Lana's face fell. "Oh. Joy."

* * *

"That's enough, Hannah."

Elijah Mikaelson pulled away his hand from Hannah Davis's mouth, but she wasn't happy with it. He fixed his cuff on his suit jacket and watched as the wound on his hand healed.

She sat down on his bed and huffed. "I want more," she complained.

"Hannah," Elijah warned. "If you don't control it, it's going to get worse," he told her. "You're already addicted…how, I'm not sure. But it's not healthy."

"I'm _trying_," Hannah whined. "I _try _and drink human blood! I mean, it tastes fine. But it tastes like what human food tastes like to regular vampires, I guess," she offered an analogy. "But vampire blood…" She groaned and collapsed back on the bed, covering her face with her hands. "I just don't know how to stop."

When she removed her hands from her face, Elijah grabbed one of them and leaned back on the bed, himself. She turned her head to him, her blonde hair getting in her eyes. He brushed it away lightly and nodded to her.

"You'll be okay," he said to her. "I promise you, love. You'll be okay."

Elijah leaned forward and kissed her forehead, and Hannah closed her eyes. But all she could focus on was blood. Vampire blood.

_Vampire blood._

_Vampire blood._

_Must have more._

"Thanks, Elijah," she said and sat up to leave. "I'll see you in the morning." Hannah left the room and shut the door before walking to the other end of the hallway and knocked on the door to the room that led her to her satisfaction.

As soon as Niklaus Mikaelson answered the door, she lunged forward and kissed him straight on the mouth. Klaus kissed back with force, and it was nothing different. Her lips slid to his throat and punctured two small wounds, drawing his blood. It wasn't as satisfactory as _pure _vampire blood, but it was good. Satisfying, at the very least.

Klaus shut the door, and Hannah's lips remained drawing the sweet blood from his bloodstream.

* * *

**So…what do you guys think? You like it?**

**Anyways, going to bed now because I have a dentist appointment in the morning :( It's really early, so…yeah.**

**Make sure to check out my story, ****_She Said._**

**And vote on my pool.**

**But first, review :)**

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more!_**

**_Love,_**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	5. V

**Hey guys!**

**I just wanted to let you know in the A/N that uploaded yet ANOTHER new story. Ugh! Sometimes I really hate my mind because I come up with story ideas like every hour. Most of them are bad, but there are some that I think are good and I just ****_have _****to publish. **

**But, hey. If I didn't publish I Can Never Love Again, which I was debating over for two weeks, I wouldn't be here right now, would I? **

**But if you would do me a favor and read my new story, ****_Good Girls Go Bad, _****I would be forever in your debt :) **

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters.**

* * *

**_V_**

"You let her do _what_?" Elena screeched. It was probably loud enough for the whole town to hear.

It was just a couple minutes after they returned home and Elena was already yelling at them. She wasn't mad because they kissed – neither Damon nor Lana had let that slip – but Lana _had _mentioned that she killed a woman and fed off of two other humans. Damon didn't know why, but Lana protected Damon by not telling Elena that he fed off of the woman, too.

"Elena—" Damon started.

"Don't _Elena _me!" Elena screamed. "How could you just let her kill a person? You stopped me!"

"Don't act like you're all innocent, Elena," Lana sighed heavily as she peered over her feet to look at Elena. Once they had gotten home, Lana had made sure to comfortably position herself on the couch while she took the yelling. "You killed the waitress in Willoughby, and countless people on the way over," Lana said. "I'm emotionless, too, you know. I'm _allowed _to kill."

"Not in Mystic Falls you're not," Elena countered but looked back at Damon.

"I can't control her!" Damon snapped. Now he was angry – pissed was more like it. Not only was she paranoid that he still had feelings for Lana – which was more or less true, now Elena was being a ridiculous hypocrite. "Stefan and I couldn't control _you, _and I can't control her."

Elena took a long breath, but everyone in the room knew she was wrong – even her. "I-I'm sorry, Damon," she stuttered. "I just…not in Mystic Falls, okay?" she said, rubbing her eyes. "I can't deal with more supernatural occurrences in Mystic Falls…we've all already slaughtered half the town!"

"That's what procreation is for," Lana pointed out and shrugged. "Besides. If you won't let me feed in Mystic Falls, where do you suppose I feed?"

"Somewhere else!" Elena growled. "Somewhere _far _away from me and Damon!"

Lana rolled her eyes. "So he can take care of _you _when he's emotionless, but not _me_?" Lana smiled lightly. "You _do _realize what situation you're in right now, right?" Elena raised her eyebrows. "Ugh. You're so stupid." Lana got up from the couch and walked over to Damon and Elena, her arms crossed. "I didn't want Damon hanging out with _you _when I was with him, and now the roles are reversed." Lana grinned widely. "Twenty bucks says that I know how this all plays out," she hinted, looking at both of them.

Damon glared at her for a moment before shaking her head. "Elena…don't _listen _to her," Damon said, his voice sounding as if he was disgusted. "Lana, will you give us a minute?" he asked kindly.

She shrugged and flashed upstairs, leaving the couple to work out their kinks.

Elena turned to Damon and sighed. "You're right, Damon," she admitted, her voice low. "I'm just… I don't want her feeding here. I don't want people of Mystic Falls just disappearing again. It's _wrong," _she stated.

Damon nodded. "Fine, Elena," he told her. "But you're going to have to compromise."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Lana asked from the backseat of Elena's car, even though Damon was driving it. Elena was in the passenger seat, with a sour and worried expression on her face. Damon pulled out of the driveway and headed out on the highway.

"The airport," Damon answered carefully.

"Descriptive," she murmured blandly, but decided not to push it when Elena started talking to Damon.

"This is a bad idea," Elena muttered. Damon sighed.

"You didn't want her feeding in Mystic Falls," Damon whispered, even though Lana could hear them both. "Compromises, Elena."

Elena let out a long breath of air and everything was silent for the rest of the ride until they arrived at the airport, where it was almost deserted. It was close to Whitmore, which was good for Elena. Everyone exited the car, including Elena.

"Be careful," Elena told Damon sternly. "I don't want to hear about some mass-murder caused by an animal," she warned. Lana rolled her eyes. Elena was so paranoid, it hurt to listen sometimes.

"I'll be fine," Damon said. "But we have to go if we're going to make our flight," he told her. Elena nodded and looked at Lana for a split second before making the snap decision to lean forward and kiss Damon on the lips, making the kiss deep. Lana shifted uncomfortably, but she just turned away and waited for Damon to be done.

"I love you," Elena whispered. Damon nodded.

"I'll call you," he promised as he smiled lightly and began to walk away from his girlfriend. Lana smiled and raised her eyebrows at Elena while she waved happily towards Elena. Elena's face remained still, but she eventually huffed and climbed into the car. Lana turned around and Damon sighed.

"I wish you wouldn't make her more paranoid than she already is," Damon told her as they entered the airport. Lana laughed.

"It's not _me _who has the problem, it's her. She doesn't know how to trust you," Lana said simply. "Not my fault."

"Well she has good reason," Damon pointed out. "I cheated on her, remember?"

Lana chuckled. "You're going to count that tiny little kiss _cheating_? Damon, if you wanted to cheat, we wouldn't be inside of the airport, we would be in the bathroom right now." Lana paused and nudged him in the shoulder. "I remember how much you like bathroom sex."

Damon shot her a glance. "I wish you would stop doing that."

Lana sighed. "Just trying to have some fun," she mumbled. "_I _wish you would be more fun. You know, you don't _have _to come with me. I can function just fine on my own."

Damon shook his head. "It's better that I look out for you during this trip. When we come back, it's up to you whether or not you want to stay in Mystic Falls or not, but I'm going to respect Elena. No feeding in Mystic Falls if you come back." They walked up to the ticket counter and Damon got the airplane tickets while Lana sat down and waited for him to come back to her.

"Okay," Damon said, sighing as he walked over to her. "We have two tickets and we're ready to go. Our plane leaves in a half hour," he told her.

"Where are we going?" Lana asked as they moved towards security.

"Las Vegas," Damon informed her.

Lana smiled widely. "And how long are we staying?" she questioned as they put their cell phones into a bucket and each walked under the metal detector.

"A week," Damon answered.

Lana whistled through her lips. "Wow," she said. "What made you decide to go away for a week with me away from your girlfriend and all your friends."

Damon raised his eyebrow and smiled. "What friends?" he asked.

She grimaced at him. "You didn't answer the question," she blamed. He sighed.

"Elena and I agreed that I'll take you away for a week," he said blandly. "If you decide that you want to respect her wishes and not feed in Mystic Falls, then you can come back. If you decide that you want to go off somewhere, I'll buy you the next ticket to wherever you want to go and that'll be the last of it," Damon told her, looking at her intensely. Lana crossed her arms over her chest.

"So, basically, this trip is an ultimatum?" she asked, confused. Damon shrugged.

"Sure. That's one way to look at it," he admitted and held up the tickets. "Do you want to just go alone or would you like me to book you a ticket to a different destination?" he offered. "If you don't want me to do that, we can go back to the house right now and you can ease up on the feeding and do it somewhere else when you're hungry."

Lana narrowed her eyes at Damon. "And what's going to happen with you on this trip, huh?" she proposed to him. "Are you going to lecture me on morals and 'doing the right thing' while I'm killing someone?" she asked.

Damon shook his head. "The second this plane takes off, I won't say one word to you about feeding." Lana thought it too good to be true. "Honestly. No morals, no lectures, just fun. I'll even feed with you. We can kill as many humans as you want to for the next week." Damon smiled. "But after that, it's all up to you."

She didn't necessarily like the fact that it was practically a test, but Damon was offering her a week of fun and games with him. And if there was one thing she liked more than fun and games as an emotionless vampire, it was fun and games as an emotionless vampire with Damon Salvatore.

"All right," she agreed with a small smile. "Fine. I accept your terms." Lana brushed past him and walked towards the gate to enter their airplane.

* * *

When the plane lifted off the ground, Damon had stayed true to his word. There were no lectures about morality and he didn't object when she looked around for another meal.

"Boy or girl?" Lana whispered to Damon. Damon looked around with her.

"Girls are tastier," Damon told her. "And easily swayed." Damon looked around until he spotted a blonde girl one row behind them and smiled. "Meet me in the back restroom in two minutes," he told Lana. Lana smiled and nodded as Damon got up from his first-class seat and walked up to the girl. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, and continued to the back of the airplane. A few seconds later, the woman followed, in a trance.

Lana waited another minute before she got out of her seat and went to the back of the airplane, where the engine kicked strong. She opened the bathroom door and entered the small cabin, though it was just fine for feeding.

"You started without me," Lana complained, pouting slightly. Damon moved his head up from the girl's wrist and nodded towards the girl's other wrist.

"We can't kill her, but we can feed," Damon told her. Lana glared at him. "Lana, there's a line between fun and stupidity. We can't just kill her and leave her in here."

As much as she hated to admit it, Damon was absolutely right. After a bite, Lana grasped the woman by her shoulders and compelled her to walk away after sliding down her long-sleeve shirt.

The woman left, and Damon and Lana both stayed for a moment so it didn't look suspicious. What they didn't expect was the turbulence that caused Damon to lunge forward accidentally, pinning Lana to the wall. She smiled widely.

"So you want that bathroom sex after all, I see," Lana proposed. Damon stared at her lips, but he knew it was wrong. He couldn't cross that line. Elena said she didn't want to know what happened in Las Vegas when he returned, but he was positive that wasn't the "okay" to go and have sex with his ex-girlfriend.

"We can't…" Damon trailed off and Lana grinned.

"Oh, we can, Damon," she countered. "It's just up to you whether you want to take advantage of it or not." Lana leaned forward so she was mere centimeters away from his lips. "You wanted meaningless, passionate sex when you first met me," she whispered to him, looking up at him seductively. "I was a human. I had feelings." She brushed her lips against his, and for the moment, he was paralyzed. "I don't have any feelings anymore, Damon."

Lana pulled away quickly, smirking vindictively. "Wait a couple minutes," Lana told him as she opened the door to the airplane and left it, leaving Damon conflicted and in a desperate need for a cold shower.

He settled for washing his face with cold water.

* * *

**Okay…so the next couple chapters will be Lana and Damon's time in Las Vegas. Don't worry – they're not going to get together immediately. Last chapter was an in the moment, harmless kiss. And Lana's going to be too blood-crazed to even ****_think _****about Damon. **

**Until…. :) Oops. Not going to share that with you yet!**

**Please make sure to check out my new story, ****_Good Girls Go Bad_****! It's an Ian/OC. **

**Tell me what you think!**

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**

**PS: I might be absent for this weekend because I'm going to my grandparents' house I'm still taking my laptop, but it's my grandma's birthday and stuff. But I'll update ASAP!**


	6. VI

**I'm so done with this Nian crap. Until I see a picture of them actually together outside of just getting off an airplane from filming and them in the same picture together in front of thousands of people, I refuse to believe they are together. I really don't think they are. I think everyone's making a whole big deal out of absolutely nothing. They were ****_filming _****straight until they had to go to Comic Con. DUH they would come to it together! And as for the whole "being cute" thing during the whole convention, like ****_seriously_****? I mean, they're playing love interests on a show this year. I think they were probably told to act a certain way with each other for the fan base. It doesn't matter, because unless we see a picture of them holding hands together in public with no fans around, I wouldn't get my hopes up. **

**Continuing, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Vegas is going to be…interesting. But, you know…what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. **

**Or does it? **

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. I don't own the song used in this chapter, even though it's only used in a couple of lines. I just needed some fillers where Lana and Damon are getting on a blood high :) 'Cuz that's always fun. **

* * *

**_VI_**

"Why'd you get a suite?" Lana asked, looking around the extravagant, large hotel as Damon talked to a manager behind the counter. Damon compelled the manager, and two minutes later, they had a suite and were heading up to it.

"I figured it'd be nice to have a place to wash up for the week," Damon said, looking over at her.

"Oh!" Lana said, hitting her palm against her face stupidly. "Duh. I thought you got it for us to sleep."

Damon laughed. "Sleep? Who needs that?" He waved his hand effortlessly as the elevator ascended to their floor. "Unfortunately, they didn't have the Tower Suite with double beds available, and I could only get the Parlor Suite with one bed." The elevator doors opened to reveal their floor, and they stepped out to walk down the hall.

"Who the hell cares?" Lana proposed. "It's not like we're going to _sleep_, anyway." When Damon shot her a small look, she sighed. "Relax, I meant that I'm going to be up partying and drinking blood all night. Not _that_." Damon nodded, but didn't say anything, so she moved on. "I saw a few stores downstairs," Lana said in a smiling voice. "Can we go shopping?"

Damon cracked a smile. "You know, I seem to recall you being human and hated the idea when I suggested it."

Lana grimaced at him. "Well, that's because every time something bad came up, you would practically ship me off to Beverly Hills to go shopping. I don't enjoy shopping when it's _forced_," she clarified.

They pulled up to their door and Damon didn't say anything else. He slid the key card into the electronic reader and pushed the door open. He wanted to take a quick shower and get himself ready for whatever Lana wanted to do all night. When they walked in, she looked around carefully and turned back to Damon. Damon had to admit, he didn't do too bad compelling themselves a room. But Lana was unimpressed, as usual.

"Can I go get an outfit to wear now?" she asked, annoyed.

Damon nodded. "I'm going to take a shower," he told her. "Do you mind getting me something to wear from downstairs?" he asked, entering the living room and looking around.

She shrugged. "Sure, why not." Out of her pocket, she waved a gold credit card, and Damon saw it out of the corner of his eye. He smiled.

But then, she tossed it towards him, where it landed directly at his feet. "I don't need that," she said curtly and spun on her heel to walk out.

* * *

A half an hour later, Lana returned, her hands full of shopping bags. Damon came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair was still wet, but she could tell that he had been out of the shower for a little while.

"Here you go," she said to him, giving him two out of the thirty bags she held in her hand. "I got enough for the rest of the week for you," Lana informed him.

Damon raised his eyebrow. "And you got…what? Enough clothes for the _year _for you?" he asked her.

Lana glared at him and he smiled as she talked and he went into the bedroom to change. "If you must know, I got a little carried away. But I plan on wearing them all." She paused. "You know what would be fun, Damon?" she asked him. Damon emerged from the bedroom, slipping a shirt over his head.

"What?" Damon asked, digging into his bag to find a pair of shoes and socks. As he fitted them on his feet, she continued.

"If we crashed a really important party," Lana suggested. "Like, a fancy one. I mean, how much fun would that be? And then just steal people away and drink them one by one?"

"That would be fun," Damon admitted. "But I don't think there are parties like that in Las Vegas. I mean, we could definitely try."

Lana nodded and searched through several bags and smiled before she stripped her shirt off, right then and right there. Damon tried not to stare at her, but it was inevitable. He eventually sighed and forced a smile. "So what's first?" he asked her. Lana shrugged.

"I don't know," she said to him. "You tell me." Lana put on a _Chloè_ nude-colored transparent top and fitted an Alexander McQueen black leather biker jacket over it, flipping her long brunette hair overtop. Damon could only thank God that she didn't change her jeans. Instead, she stepped out of the Christian Louboutins that she loved and put on Oscar de la Renta lace black pumps.

"You want to go to a casino down on the strip?" Damon offered. "Or do you want to start with a club?"

"Let's start out with the casino," Lana proposed, smiling widely. "I want to save dessert for last."

* * *

They were up by three thousand dollars – not that they had paid any money for the chips they had started with in the beginning. But they weren't playing together – and it meant double the money. For some reason, it always came down to Damon and Lana while playing poker, and one of them would either win or lose. Typically, it was Damon who lost and Lana who won.

It had been hours since they had first entered the lively casino, and it was now dark outside. The hotel they were staying at, The Wynn, had both a casino and several award-winning nightclubs. As much as she hated to admit it, Damon had picked one of the best hotels in Vegas.

"I raise," Lana said blandly. In her hands, she held a full house.

Damon smirked cockily. "All in," he said finally. Lana bit her tongue and looked at Damon suspiciously before pushing all of her chips into the center of the table.

"All in," she said, raising her eyebrows as if to taunt him. She slapped her cards on the table and announced. "Full house."

Seeing Damon's face fall, she smirked and reached forward to grab the chips, but he stopped her with his hand on hers.

"I'm sorry," he apologized briefly before smiling again and laying down his cards. "Straight flush."

Lana's mouth formed a circle as Damon grinned and leaned forward, collecting the thousands of dollars on the table. He whispered to her once he sat back down, "I guess I get to do all of the shopping now."

For a second, she stayed silent. But that silence didn't last too long when she announced to Damon, "I'm hungry."

"So am I," Damon informed her. "You want to hit the nightclub now?" he proposed. She nodded, kind of excited about it. Killing people. Highly exciting.

"Which one?" she asked him as they left the table. There were three, excluding the beach club at the neighboring resort next door, which wouldn't be a problem to enter.

"How about we do Surrender tonight?" Damon suggested.

"Works." Lana shrugged. "I just want something to eat."

Damon didn't say anything else, but he smiled as they turned up at the entrance for the club. He didn't even need to compel his way in, as the large bodyguard let them in with no trouble at all. The music pumped through the speakers and the air smelled like boos and cigarettes.

Lana smiled in the darkness, and Damon followed her as they made their way through the center of the crowd, and it was time to dance.

_You spin my head right round, right round_

_When you go down, when you go down, down._

_You spin my head right round, right round_

_When you go down, when you down, down. _

Because the place was massively packed on the dance floor, it was the easiest place for Lana and Damon to find their victims. But this time, instead of sharing one victim, they turned away from each other and tried to find their own. Between dancing and scoping, she finally found the perfect first taste. With movements that went along to the movement, she moved over to the person she wanted badly – a single male dancing with some of his friends mindlessly. While his friends were focused on the female dancers twirling their limbs on a gold pole beside the bar, she fit herself beside the male, and he didn't think to object. In seconds, they were dancing, and she turned around to meet his face. He probably thought she was into him, but the truth was, she was into his pounding pulse.

Lana didn't even bother with compulsion, because it was too loud in there already. She morphed her face, and within seconds, she was feeding off of the poor, unlucky single man. The blood flowed down her throat effortlessly, and she felt more than satisfied. But satisfaction wasn't enough for her, and she would have to take more. But she wasn't going to be stupid about it, so she pulled away and looked into the male's eyes and compelled.

"I'm done with you now. Leave."

She was the one who left, ultimately, to move onto her next victim.

Meanwhile, Damon was on the other side of the club, actually feeding. He probably didn't have to, considering the fact that Lana was enjoying herself far away from him. But something made him want to feed – and he missed it when he actually sunk his teeth into a woman's flesh. He was a pro at it – as he had always been. The rush of a blood high coursed through his veins, and once again, it made him feel alive.

He didn't _once _think about Elena while he was feeding. All he thought about was the blood and how much fun he'd been having in the last two minutes. He fed harder until he decided it was enough. Damon erased the woman's memory and moved onto someone else. This someone was lucky enough to make Damon wrap his arms around her and feed deeply. The girl didn't scream, like she was told, and Damon fed as much as he wanted to until he felt the desire to stop. At the moment, he didn't even care if blood was on his mouth.

Somehow, both of them, Lana and Damon, found their way back to each other as they worked their way in. Together, they danced to the song, becoming viler with every feed then the giant gold snake used for decoration at the bar. Neither of them shared blood together, considering their last experience. But Damon had a feeling that they would be sharing blood real soon.

He felt it, between them, as he took her hand in his and danced with her to the songs that played overhead through the whole night. The party never slowed down, and neither did they. Blood, dancing, blood, dancing, drinks, blood, dancing. It was an endless loop of fun and adventure, and it was impossible to stop.

But when the sun broke out over the horizon and the nightclub turned into a bunch of passed-out drunks on the expensive couches, Damon and Lana sat on one of the red couches, his hair all riled and messed up, her jacket nowhere to be found, and her shoes on the floor. Her head was in his lap and she held a bourbon glass in her hand, as did Damon.

"That was…" she breathed. It was one of the only words she had spoken the whole night besides "More" and "Blood".

"Amazing," Damon answered. "So much fun. I didn't think I'd have that much fun."

"I've been telling you," Lana said smugly as she downed a gulp of her drink. "Elena's been holding you back. You're a predator, Damon." She sat up straight and smiled lazily. "Let's say you and I go get a drink somewhere else?" she proposed. "I'm a little tired of the hotel," she admitted.

"Same here," Damon admitted as she got up and slipped her shoes on her feet. Absolutely nothing romantic happened between them the night before, and that was the furthest thing on both of their minds.

* * *

**Next chapter, Damon and Lana will have a semi-serious talk in an underground strip club. Yeah. They're a hell of a couple. **

**I actually really liked that chapter. I didn't think I would because I thought it would be too cheesy or something. I don't know…tell me what you guys think!**

**Outfits are on Polyvore and the links are on my profile. I also have a little ****_extra _****something that I posted on Polyvore for you guys :)**

**By the way, I'm thinking about making a new story…I don't know if I should and I don't even know why I'm telling you guys this. Okay, it's like 2 AM, so just ignore me. But if you think it's a good idea…no, you know what. Just ignore me. Sigh. **

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	7. VII

**Hello everyone! So, I wanted to let you know that I uploaded a new story called ****_Secret_****! It's an Ian/OC taking the place of She Said because I literally had no cannon for that story. I don't even know why I created that story in the first place, to be honest. **

**Anyways, if you could give it a read for me, I would be so grateful! But, as always, you don't have to! **

**Enjoy the chapter! Next chapter might be a special one…But don't worry. This story is ****_far _****from being over. I'm thinking it'll be around the same length (maybe a little shorter) as I Can Never Love Again. **

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. As always, there's a some suggestive language, but we've been through this before. Just giving you a forewarning. Emotionless Lana is NOT afraid to lay it all out. **

* * *

**_VII_**

The club was quiet, for the most part. After last night, with all of the hype, it was honestly relieving to grab a few minutes of silence accompanied by hormone-raising music playing in the background. Unfortunately, one of the only silent and secluded places in Las Vegas was an underground strip club. Damon and Lana sat at the empty bar, because everyone else was seated at a table near the dancers.

They had changed before they went out to the club, because she had unfortunately got blood on her new blouse. It taught her never to wear beige again while feeding. Damon changed into a different black shirt and she changed into a dark blue shirt but left the rest of the outfit untouched. They had walked down the strip to the club.

Damon swished his bourbon in his glass and thought about Elena. All of the night's experiments had finally caught up to him, and the one question that roamed in his mind was what Elena would think about it. Would she think that he was a monster?

_"So you really love her?" _

_"I know for sure that I did."_

_"But I thought you said you could never love again…She's the reason you can never love again – because you'll be in love with her forever?"_

_"Pretty much. What about you?"_

_"What about me?"_

_"How'd you get to be that way?"_

_"Oh, no. No way."_

_"What?"_

_"You're not getting that out of me."_

A question suddenly sparked in his mind. He didn't mean to take advantage of Lana being emotionless, but he had a feeling Lana would never tell him when she got her emotions back. He had been trying for so long to get the story out of her, and his question could be answered today.

"Tell me something," Damon said quickly, turning to Lana. She looked at him, smiling slightly.

"What?" she asked, her voice low as she half-smiled.

"Do you remember how I always asked you what made you unable to love…before you fell in love with me, of course?" Damon prompted. Lana rolled her eyes and put down her alcoholic beverage.

"I thought we agreed to not talk about touchy-feely stuff," she said to him, turning her body to face him.

He frowned. "For the last year, you've always denied me that answer. I want to know. Besides, it's not like you care, anyway, right?" Damon wiggled his eyebrows and gave a half-smirk.

Lana sighed heavily before shrugging lightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She paused for a moment. "I'll give you the run-down. I was with a boy since high school, and we went to college together. But he met a girl, one of my friends. The next thing I knew, he was inviting her to everything and we never got any time alone. When I confronted him about it, he beat me." Damon didn't know if it was on purpose or by accident, but he was starting to see a pattern, and he didn't like it. But Lana didn't hesitate as she continued. "Anyway, I was driving to my parents' house, but I forgot something. When I opened the door to my dorm room, he was in my bed, having sex with that friend of mine. I tried to walk out on him, and he started throwing shit around that he'd been cheating on me since the first week we went out. Then he started trying to strangle me to death, but Hannah appeared and called the police. He went to jail." Lana shrugged. "I haven't heard from him since."

And she honestly thought she hadn't heard from him since.

Damon stared at her as she drained the rest of the alcohol in her glass. "So there," she said at last. "You wanted to know, so now you know. And you can thank _me, _Emotionless Lana for that." Lana smiled widely.

Damon lowered his eyes. "Lana, you never told me…"

Lana rolled her eyes again. "Yeah, I never told you. I didn't want you to feel like history was repeating itself again so you could compel me into leaving." Her tone showed no trace of anger. It was more like a glorified statement. "Although history kind of _did _repeat itself. Especially when you hit me after I talked to your brother that one day." She laughed while she traced a circle around the rim of her glass.

"Why didn't you get angry?" Damon asked her, looking up at her carefully. "When I would drag Elena with us wherever we went? It was like history was repeating itself."

Lana shrugged. "Elena was apart of your life," she explained. "I wasn't going to be the one to push you two away." She paused. "I remember _vaguely _telling you that if you chose Elena, I wouldn't care," Lana admitted. "Damn, was I wrong."

"You weren't in love with me back then," Damon pointed out. "You and I were just…"

"Fuck buddies?" she piped up, making the word sound okay when it really wasn't. She smiled widely and Damon nodded slowly. "God, don't you miss that?" She laughed and took a long sip of her glass. "I mean, it was so much _fun. _I mean, I know I was under compulsion and everything, but I had a _lot _of fun when we were together. Well…when we were having sex, not the feeding part. You were a little rough," she admitted.

Damon stayed completely silent, so she continued. "Oh, well." Lana breathed out a long sigh. "I guess we can't ever be in that kind of relationship again, considering you're completely devoted to Elena even though she won't let you be what you want to be." She downed the glass of alcohol and looked at the bartender. "Do you know what else there is to do in Las Vegas? I'm bored already," Lana said, sighing and fluttering her eyelashes. She had moved on from the subject, and there was no going back.

"There's a racetrack a couple blocks away," the bartender answered. "It's open to everyone. You can drive Ferraris and other sports cars."

"Thank you," Lana said to the bartender and turned her attention back to Damon. "What do you think?" she asked, raising her eyebrows enticingly.

* * *

She had never driven a sports car before besides the Porsche she had stole and ditched in Virginia. And even then, she hadn't driven a sports car on an actual _racetrack, _competing against the notorious Damon Salvatore, who has probably driven millions of sports cars in his 165 years.

But she had never had so much _fun _driving a car.

A smile was on her face as she raced around the track against Damon, who was falling a bit behind. The wind blew on her face, and she thanked herself for remembering to put her hair up in a ponytail before she climbed into the blood red Ferrari and began to drive in 100-MPH car induced wind. She screamed aloud to Damon as she put her foot down on the gas pedal and sped up the car.

They had compelled the owners of the racetrack to let Damon and her race alone for as long as they wanted. Damon pressed his foot down on the gas pedal and laughed as he sped up faster in the Lamborghini he was driving.

It felt good…to do something fun that didn't involve killing and feeding off of people. He knew he was going to have to go back to it tonight, but for now, it as fun just _being _with Lana. He forgot how much fun she could be. Elena and him didn't do anything this fun during the summer. But then again, they really never left the bedroom. If it weren't for Jeremy, they would've never left the bed.

"I think you're losing your touch, Mr. Salvatore," Lana said to herself, but she knew Damon could hear. Damon laughed from his car and pressed down on the gas pedal again.

"I think you're becoming a little bit too cocky, Miss Mercer," he said through a smile as he zipped past her, rounding a corner of the racetrack. Lana cursed under her breath, but he could tell she was laughing. Her foot eased down on the gas pedal, and Damon did the same.

But he had got to her at the perfect time – just as they were about to complete their game, which had been twelve laps around the racetrack. Normally, it wouldn't be that many laps, but they had both decided to raise the stakes. Damon came in first, passing Lana just barely by the skin of his teeth. They both came to a standstill and pulled off to the side. Lana climbed out of the car, and all laughing was off.

Damon climbed out of his car with a large, smug smile on his face. "You lose," he said cockily, leaning against the hood of the Lamborghini.

"You're an ass," Lana snapped at him. "You cut me off!"

"It's not my fault you're not as…how should I put it…" Damon trailed off with a smirk. "Stubborn as I once remember." He shrugged. "It must be the emotions."

Lana rolled her eyes. "_Please _tell me this trip isn't supposed to make me want to turn my emotions back on," she groaned at him. "There's never anything but a secret agenda with you."

Damon sighed. "Lana, _relax," _he told her, rolling his eyes this time. "You're too paranoid. Look, it's getting dark outside." He gestured around to the setting sun. "Do you want to head back to the hotel? We can hit up the casino and go to a different club tonight," he offered.

Lana bit her lip cautiously, but smiled lightly. What was the point of getting angry over a stupid car race? She nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Can we take the Ferrari back?" she asked hopefully.

Damon shook his head. "No," he said. She frowned at him and he jingled the keys in his hand. "We'll take the Lamborghini back instead."

"Do I get to drive?" she asked, eyeing him.

"If you're nice to me," Damon admitted, smirking.

She fluttered her eyelashes at him and mocked. "Oh, Damon! Can I _please – _with cherries on top – drive the car?"

"Mm…." Damon trailed off. "No," he said. "But come on. We'll stop for a bite to eat on the way." He winked and Lana groaned as she reluctantly moved into the passenger seat of the car.

"I was thinking Italian," she said to Damon carefully. He smiled at her and nodded.

"Sounds good to me," he admitted and put the car in reverse, where he drove it out of the racetrack and continued back to the hotel.

* * *

**So…the next chapter is going to be a little…steamy, I guess. I mean, trust me, I'm not going to make this go fast, but how long did you think Damon and Lana would last before they ended up getting it on? I mean…I could always slow it down. **

**But trust me, there's a ****_lot _****more in store for this couple! So much, I haven't even thought of the full plotline yet!**

**Anyways…if you can, please go read my new story, ****_Secret. _****You don't have to, but it would be really nice if you did!**

**Tell me what you think!**

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	8. VIII

**I miss writing these chapters to episodes! It makes me want to make another story based off of earlier seasons. **

**Who knows? I might be making a Damon/OC in season 5. **

**No, but I really want to make a new story, probably based somewhere in season 1/2/or 3. Not 4. I am SO done with season 4. **

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter. It's where everything takes a little turn for the…better? Well, I guess you could say that. **

**I just finished planning the whole story, and it looks like it's going to be 38 chapters! So, 30 more chapters to go! Now that I've got it all planned out, I can space out the chapters accordingly…and trust me, I have a ****_lot _****in store for everyone. Just wait. Like, I'm actually ****_proud _****of what I've come up with. **

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. By the way, outfits are on Polyvore along with a couple extras :) **

* * *

**_VIII_**

_One Day Later._

Damon popped his collar on the black button-down shirt he was wearing. They had come back to their room to get ready for the night, since the club they were going to be at was a little higher class than the nightclub Surrender or the nightclub Tryst that resided at the Wynn Hotel.

He was becoming very impatient during the whole trip. Last night, he had almost crossed the line between his "friendship" with Lana and his "relationship" with her. She had disappeared for a while, and when she came back, her jeans were on backwards and her top was showing her bra. It wasn't hard to fill in the lines. But it made him angry…jealous, almost. But he had a right to. Her body had been his and only his for as long as he could remember before he had stupidly let her walk away from him.

Lana stepped out of the bathroom and stepped in front of the full-length mirror that Damon was standing in front of. She tilted her head as she tried to clip in her earrings while giving Damon a light smile. "Are you ready?" she asked.

He looked down at her, slowly surveying. She was wearing a dress – a black and beige one. Since when did she wear dresses when she was an emotionless bitch?

"I like the shirt," Lana told him, walking over to the couch to grab her shoes. "I did a good job with picking out your wardrobe," she complimented herself.

"What's with the dress?" Damon asked, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. Lana groaned.

"I had to wash my jeans," she told him. "I mean, absolutely _none _of the stores downstairs had jeans. You would expect them to, but they didn't." Lana shrugged. "Oh, well. It doesn't matter. Don't worry, I won't get blood on it." She winked. "I learned from the best."

Damon smiled faintly before she moved towards the doors in her same old pumps. "You coming?" she asked, opening the hotel door. Damon nodded and moved out with her.

* * *

XS Nightclub – also known as, the porn nightclub. There were strip poles everywhere, Lana and Damon had to compel the crap out of the bouncer to let them in, and behind the bar, there were statuettes of naked women. Most of the people inside of the club were men, and they were all surrounded by groups of women. There was a crowd by the dance floor, and people were swimming in the pool by the gazebo. Damon guessed that those people "swimming" were probably topless, and he wasn't talking about the men.

The nightclub was supposedly "Inspired by the human body", but "inspired by the human body" his ass. It was practically a strip club, except the dancers were at least clothed. It was a high-class escort club.

"Ooh, Damon!" Lana shouted at him after they entered. It made him smile, the way she smiled at him. _Shut up, Damon, _his subconscious snapped.

But he couldn't help it. Over the past three days, all he could think about was their relationship. The way she laughed, the way she talked, the way she would never judge Damon for being Damon. It was eating away at Damon that he was unavailable, and that he couldn't do anything about his hidden feelings.

"I think we can get a two-for-one deal here," she continued, looking around at the couples that danced with each other on the floor. She grabbed his hand, and Damon felt a shockwave of heat rush through him. "Come on! Let's split one!" Lana said, bloodlust forming in her eyes.

He nodded his head slightly and Lana pulled him through the crowd, searching for someone she wanted. She looked around, biting her lip, and Damon came behind her. "What about that one?" he asked, whispering in her ear. She focused on the girl Damon pointed at – a young, thirty-something drunken girl sloppily grinding against any man she could find. Lana shook her head. Damon turned her and sought out a different victim.

"That one?" Damon asked. Lana looked at the twenty-something man watching one of the dancers work magic around a pole in the corner of the club. Lana suddenly got an idea.

"No," she answered. "But I have something better."

She pulled Damon to that corner, where she bent down to look at the twenty-something man who was sitting on the couch in front of the pole. "Leave," she compelled. The man got up and left, leaving Damon and Lana alone with the dancer, who didn't seem the slightest bit disturbed. She just kept spinning around on the pole until Lana's hand clasped down on her shoulder, halting the high-class, non-stripping stripper.

"Don't scream," Lana compelled. She lowered her head and bit into the stripper's neck, letting the blood transfer to her mouth, filling her with sweet goodness. She looked up at Damon after her bite, inviting him over to drink with her. He stepped to the other side of the woman and drank from the other side of her neck, and together, they drained the woman until Lana decided she was done with it and spun the girl around. They couldn't kill someone in the hotel, since it was so high-class, but she planned on making a few kills when they went out to a club on the Strip.

"Leave," she said coldly, and the stripper did as told. Damon wiped the blood off of his mouth and looked at her.

"You want to dance?" Damon asked, shouting over the music. Lana nodded, but she was smiling suspiciously. She moved towards Damon, and Damon felt the heat rush up against him again. She moved closer, and the good boy in him moved back. He moved back until he was pushed against the couch.

"I've always wanted to try something!" Lana shouted over the music, brushing her fingernails against her mouth slightly. Damon swallowed hard as she moved over to the pole. How could he be so stupid? He left Elena all alone for seven days and didn't expect to fall for Lana again? He was a complete and total idiot.

But he was a complete and total idiot with a dry mouth when Lana began to twirl on the pole. Not in a stripper-way, but in a fun way. He had never actually seen her have fun until she turned emotionless.

Guilt returned to him when he thought about her emotions. He had made her turn them off. His choice – his cowardness – had made her turn her emotions off and become heartless. But the truth was, he was still in love with her. Damon knew he was, and the only person he was lying to was Elena.

He got up from the couch, and his thoughts about Elena were no longer with him. All that mattered was the girl in front of him, and what she meant to him. He began to think about all the times he had screwed everything up with her, and all the times he made their relationship worthwhile.

Lana twirled one last time, laughing uncontrollably, as Damon sauntered up to her and pinned her back to the pole. Her arms were above her head, locked around the gold rod. He took a moment of hesitation before he finally made a decision and leaned down, kissing her.

She didn't plan on it to happen. To be honest, she would've been fine if they hadn't kissed. The only reason she had teased him back on the airplane was for good measure. Just because she was emotionless didn't mean she didn't remember what had happened between them – the way he would kiss her and the way he would feed on her. Lana's hands moved up to Damon's hair and threaded her fingers through it, creating a mess. She didn't mind kissing Damon…she didn't mind it at all.

She broke away from the kiss so she could lead him from the club. When they were finally safe outside, she pulled his lips back to hers and they stumbled back to the elevator, not even caring that people were walking back and forth through the hotel. The elevator doors opened, they got inside, still lip-locked, and the doors closed with no one else inside. He pushed her up against the elevator and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he kissed down her neck and pressed their floor button on the keypad.

Many sloppy kisses, stumbles, and enormous amounts of vampire-speed later, Lana threw Damon onto the bed, stripping herself of her dress and climbing on top of Damon, who was already shirtless. She kissed him once before she pinned his hands to the bed and pulled away.

"You wanted no strings attached when you met me, right?" she panted, her hot breath mixing in with Damon's.

He barely had enough strength to answer. "Yes," he said truthfully.

"That's all we are," she told him sternly. "No strings. No feelings, no relationship. If you can't handle that, we're stopping right now." It seemed silly to make it clear to _Damon Salvatore, _but he did fall in love with Lana once.

Damon swallowed. He might not be able to do that, but this Lana was emotionless. _She _probably didn't feel that way.

The real question was, and it was an unspoken question, could he deal with betraying Elena?

Damon flipped them over in a second and kissed Lana roughly, answering her question.

* * *

**So, they're back together…for the time being. No, I'm not going to be so cruel. But this was the last of the Las Vegas chapters because the next chapter is going to focus on them going back to Mystic Falls, and what special deal they'll have in order. I wanted to make it seem like history was repeating itself…did I do a good job? I mean, Damon did only want sex with Lana when they first met, but it grew into something more. **

**Don't worry, for all of you Lana Emotionless-haters, she won't be emotionless forever. Some scary shit will go down with her in this story, just you watch. I have it all mapped out now, so I'm pretty excited!**

**Anyways, I'm thinking about changing my UN here…I might change it this weekend. But that requires going back and changing the tags on EVERY one of my stories (you know, the Love, KatherineSalvatore1918 stuff). So that'll be fun and will probably drain my writing time for a day. **

**Yup. That's just me, I'm pretty complicated. **

**Anyways…tell me what you think!**

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more updates!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**

**PS: If you think it's a good idea to do a story starting from Season 1/2/ or 3, could you let me know? Because it's a real possibility right now! Thank you!**


	9. IX

**So, things are going to start getting complicated…starting now! Well, obviously, since Damon is still with Elena and will be with Elena until the end of the story. **

**Now, will he be with Lana until the end of the story…eh, you'll see. :)**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters.**

* * *

**_IX_**

_Five Days Later._

"Why did we have to take a one-stop flight?" Lana whined as they exited the plane that had only taken them as far as Texas. "And _Texas, _Damon?"

Damon sighed. "You can complain all you want," Damon said as he tailed their suitcases along behind them. He had insisted on bringing all of the clothes she bought at the hotel over the last week home with them because she must've bought a hundred thousand dollars worth of clothes. "I did this to have a little more time," he told her honestly.

Lana smiled widely. "Why, Damon Salvatore! Did you lie to your girlfriend about the flight schedule so you can spend another night with me?" she asked him, pulling him to a stop to the side of the walkway. Damon crossed his arms over his chest. He had to tell Elena that they would be gone for one extra night because he could only find a non-stop flight.

"No, I didn't," Damon said truthfully. "I did this because you haven't told me what you wanted to do yet," he pointed out. Maybe he was lying, just a little bit.

Lana rolled her eyes. "Are we back to the whole 'no feeding in Mystic Falls' thing? Elena will get over it. Besides, _she _fed in Mystic Falls," Lana pointed out.

"She wasn't emotionless for as long as you were," Damon countered. "And you refuse to turn your emotions back on," he added after a while. Lana exhaled.

"_Please _tell me you didn't spend the whole week in bed with me just so you could turn my emotions back on!" She groaned, but a smile played at her lips. "You know you loved it, Damon," she tempted him, reaching out and playing with the zipper on his leather jacket.

He was silent for a moment as she brought her lips to his, for just a few seconds. When she pulled away, Damon sighed. "It's just one night," he said. "Can you bear with me, here?"

"As long as you promise to make it up to me," Lana propositioned, her eyes gleaming. Damon chuckled and began to walk again.

"You know," he said once a moment of silence passed between them, "you _do _have to choose," Damon told her firmly. Lana sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She waved it off and slipped her arm into the crook of his elbow. "But we still have one more night."

* * *

It was a small town in Texas that they arrived in, and Lana was a little surprised that Damon hadn't turned them up in Fort Worth. Instead, they were in a quaint little town that was a pit stop on the way to the major city. The hotel they checked in at was small and old, and it also looked like it was going to fall apart at any minute.

"Why can't we just go into Dallas or Fort Worth?" Lana groaned, almost on the brink of a whine. Damon sighed.

"Lana, we're here for, like, _five _hours. What's the big deal?" he asked. "I was assuming you wanted to stay in, anyway."

She shot him a glare. "You know, I don't always care about _sex_," she spat. "I want food. I'm hungry."

"We'll pick some up on the way back to Mystic Falls," Damon teased. "Come on. Let's just go outside for a while. I think I saw something about a night festival down the street," he admitted.

"Can we eat?" she prompted. Damon sighed.

"We can't kill, but yes," he told her. "We can eat. Feed. No killing."

"But I haven't even killed two people on this trip!" Lana snapped. "Where's the fun in that?"

"It's not _about _the kill, Lana!" Damon tried to make her realize. "It's about the _feed. _The _attack. _The _rush_." He paused. "You wanted me to teach you about being an emotionless vampire, here's a tip. Killing recklessly in small towns is not only going to get you arrested and create an international 'Vampire' warning, it's not going to be _fun."_ Damon breathed deeply.

She crossed her arms over her chest and stood her stance. Damon held out his hand and sighed. "Come on," he said, opening the door that led out into the hallway. "Five more hours," he pointed out.

Hesitantly, she took his hand, and he led her outside. Sure enough, he was right. Around the corner, there was a small night festival going on. A live country band played on a small, stage inside of a tent, and people were dancing all across the street. He smiled widely, but Lana didn't show that she was impressed. It wasn't something to be _impressed _about, per say, but it was something to admire. Something to embrace.

Damon tugged her hand and pulled her into the middle of the square. She grinned. "Damon, what are you doing?" she asked as he pulled her deeper into the crowd. The song changed into the four square, and Damon took advantage of the situation. He began to dance along to the music, following the people around him. Lana looked at him and laughed while shaking her head, but even she couldn't resist. They both got torn away from each other as the dance progressed, until they finally ended back up with each other as the song came to its close and a slower song replaced its tempo.

"Do you want to dance?" Damon asked kindly. Lana sighed and fit her hand into Damon's.

"This better not be a lame attempt to get me to _feel_," she warned him. "Otherwise, I'm killing the next person I see," Lana threatened.

"Oh, relax." Damon rolled his eyes. "This is more for my benefit than yours," he admitted to her as he moved around. "Don't you remember what it was like to dance with me?" he asked, curious. She shot him a look. "No feelings, I promise. I just want to know," Damon defended.

Lana sighed. "I remember," she admitted. "You're a terrible dancer," she told him. Damon laughed.

"Okay, now you're lying," Damon said, smiling wide. "You were always a terrible liar."

She frowned. "I was a major in psychology," Lana protested. "I knew how to lie!"

"No you didn't," Damon countered. "You couldn't lie to me about anything!"

"That's because I was hopelessly head over heels in love with you," she said blandly. "And when I'm in love, I tend to become a very different person."

"Oh, really?" Damon challenged. "So you remember what it was like to be in love with me?" he offered.

She wanted to say something to him, but she knew it wasn't worth it. Damon wouldn't give up until he heard what he wanted to hear.

"Yes, I remember," she told him as he spun her around. "I remember how it felt, but that doesn't mean I feel it," Lana demanded.

"Of course not." He twirled her out and spun her back to him quickly.

"You know what I remember most?" she asked, whispering in his ear. He smirked lightly.

"What?" he mumbled.

She reached up to him and played with his hair for a moment, pulling back to look into his eyes. "The way you broke my heart," she whispered to him, and leaned forward to kiss him deeply. Her comment threw him off guard, and he began to feel a slight pain in his chest. How could she be so calm about it? He knew he broke her heart, and yet she's standing here, kissing him like they were still back together.

But he wanted it. He wanted it badly, so badly that it consumed him. For three months, whether or not his time with Elena was amazing or not, he had been consumed with guilt and fear and worry. But now, he was consumed with conflictions and love for two women again.

Lana pulled back and grinned at Damon. "I have a proposition for you," she said to him as they moved around again. Damon, still a little guilt-stricken, gulped and looked down at her.

"What is it?" he asked.

"If you let us continue this…_friends with benefits _deal," she started, "I'll come back with you to Mystic Falls. No feeding in the town, but neither you or Elena can stop me from feeding outside the town."

"Why do you want this so bad?" Damon asked, confused. "Your emotions are off. You shouldn't want this."

"Just because I don't _love _you doesn't mean I don't enjoy what we have," Lana corrected him. "Sex. Sex is what we have, and it's always been the best for me. I honestly don't care whether or not I feed in Mystic Falls, as long as I get breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between. And if that requires me going a mile out of town to do, I don't care. You've always been my best, Damon." Lana chuckled. "But you knew that already," she pointed out.

"I think you still love me," Damon said, as if he were in a trace. Why he was saying it, he didn't know. "I think you still love me, and that's why you want to stay."

Lana laughed. "I thought we agreed, Damon, no feelings." She tilted her head at him. "Are you turning me down? Do you want to go back to Mystic Falls to spend the rest of the year alone while Elena parties and flirts with all of those college men? She's all moved in by now, I bet." Lana broke away from Damon and shrugged. "I guess that means you won't be seeing her besides a few off days." Lana chuckled. "But, hey. If you want to trade in no-strings sex for a long distance relationship that will keep you unhappy for an entire year…well, be my guest." She sighed. "Come and find me when you need me." Lana blew a kiss to Damon and began to walk away.

Something flashed before his eyes – the image of her walking away after he had chosen Elena. He couldn't let her walk away again. If a no-strings relationship was what Lana wanted, it was what she would get, or at least what she thought she would get.

Damon grabbed her hand as she was walking away and turned her back to him, and Damon leaned down to kiss her. It would kill him for the rest of the year, but he had no choice. He couldn't let her leave again.

* * *

When they finally got to Mystic Falls the next day, Elena was, undoubtedly, away at college and wouldn't be back until the weekend if she could get time. Damon and Elena had agreed that they would visit each other at least once every week, whether it was he at the college or her at the boarding house. The only problem they had was Jeremy.

"Listen," Damon said as they pulled up to the boarding house in the car that Elena had driven and left for them at the airport yesterday for this exact reason. "Jeremy's going to be a problem. He can't know that we're…together."

Lana rolled her eyes. "Damon, are you forgetting all of those nights we spent _right _under your brother's nose? Elena's brother will be a piece of cake. He's a human," she scoffed.

"But you were a human, too," Damon warned. "You weren't as…" Damon swallowed, searching for the right word. "_Forceful _as you are now. If he hears…"

Lana rolled her eyes. "My sex isn't _forceful, _it's enjoyable. And fun," she defended. "Don't worry about the little Gilbert. I'll be back in my bed every morning before the human wakes up. He'll never suspect a thing." She opened the door of Damon's convertible and stepped out, not bothering to grab the suitcases from the back. Damon sighed, got out of the car, grabbed the bags, and walked into the house.

* * *

**Okay, I don't know how, but I think I literally wrote this chapter in less than thirty/forty minutes. I didn't even describe Lana's outfit…but you know what, just go on Polyvore and see it anyway. I mean, it was just really her regular style these days…black, black, and black. **

**I think I'm going to start re-watching Supernatural again! Thumbs up! I love that show, but I zoned out in season 6. Was it just me or was that season really boring…? **

**Anyways, tell me what you think! Next chapter will be intense…one of the milestones. And then it'll all go downhill from there. I'm literally dead serious. **

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**

**_*PS, I'm not changing my name! Not that you care, but…you know. Just one of my little random inserts :)_**


	10. X

**So, I kind of got this idea from Buffy the Vampire Slayer…because I was watching it randomly because I was bored. In the first couple seasons, I thought Buffy and Angel were amazing and everything, but I wasn't HARDCORE, but then Spike came and he started developing those feelings for Buffy and they became my new OTP of that show. What I really wanted, though, was Buffy to have a relationship with Xander for a while. I thought that was going to happen, and when it didn't, I was pretty sad. But then Spike! Damn, he's so hot…I love him so much. **

**Anyways, this chapter isn't going to be EXACTLY like the episode I was watching where I got the idea (for all the BTVS fans out there, it was the episode where Buffy and Spike started throwing punches around at each other and then ended up having sex in the middle of a crumbling house), but it'll be similar. I just think Emotionless Lana hasn't been too heartless with Damon, because that's her weak spot. But I think it's time for her to get a little angry with him…don't you think? **

**But just wait until the end of the chapter. Promise not to kill me, PLEASE. **

**Enjoy…or not.**

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. **

* * *

**_X_**

It had been three days since Lana and Damon returned to Mystic Falls, and everything had been the same as it had been in Las Vegas, except quieter at night. Lana made sure not to sleep in Damon's bed, for sake of Jeremy being nosy and deciding to barge in at any time in the early morning. Lana had spitefully obeyed Elena's wishes, though she might've slipped up here and there. The truth was, she didn't care what Elena had to say to her. Elena had only a few months on her age, and since Elena's compassion got in the way of everything, Lana was sure Elena couldn't harm a hair on her head without Damon interfering.

But then again, and here's where she would roll her eyes, Damon wouldn't let Lana go near Elena, let alone try and fight her. It was a silver lining.

So she didn't _kill _in Mystic Falls, for the sake of not drawing attention. Instead, she fed once or twice and compelled the person to forget all about her and be extra careful around the neck for a few days. When she felt eager to kill, she just went a few miles out of town and snacked on the first person she saw.

"Ugh, is it evening already?" Lana groaned as she descended the stairs, fully dressed in her ensemble of all black clothing – black shirt, black jeans, but without the black leather jacket for the time being. Damon flipped a page in one of Stefan's diaries, seeing as he had nothing better to do.

"Yeah." Damon sighed. "Are you just waking up?" he asked as she passed him and walked to the bar to get a drink.

"Yes," Lana answered, pouring the alcohol into a glass. "I had a…rough night." She brought the glass to her lips and smiled.

"I understand." Damon held back a smile. "Though some of us still find the will to get up in the early hours," he retorted.

Lana moved over and sat on the arm of the couch next to him. "Yeah, well, some of us enjoy our beauty sleep." She peered over Damon's shoulder. "Ooh. Reading little Steffie's diary?" Lana teased. "Bad boy," she scolded, but then began to read along with him. "Any Stefan gossip I've missed?"

"I'm not reading it to figure out _gossip _on my little brother," Damon protested, turning the page. "I never had the strength to keep a journal. Too much emotion. I was almost always emotionless," Damon explained. "Sometimes it's nice to take a walk down memory lane…even if it's my brother's lane I'm walking down," he admitted.

Lana sighed and gulped her early-evening alcohol. "I would've loved to see Emotionless Damon," she admitted. "But, of course, I got stuck with the one _with _his emotions."

"Hey, emotions aren't all _that _bad," Damon protested. Lana scoffed.

"Oh, yeah?" she proposed. "What's the good part? Feeling the pain and misery of life or suffering through love and heartbreak?" Lana challenged.

"Well obviously not _those _emotions," Damon snapped. "Don't you remember being happy?" he asked.

Lana rolled her eyes. "Of course I do, Damon," she said as she got up to refill her glass. "But what I also remember was the fact that all happiness fades. And it's eventually replaced by feelings of depression, sadness, and misery." Lana poured the liquid into her cup and brought it to her lips. "Personally, I think it's better to just…not feel anything. At least then you have a clear head."

Damon shook his head and laughed. "Whatever," he brushed it off and got up from the couch in the study. "Are you going feeding tonight?" Damon asked.

"I was planning on it," Lana admitted with a large smile. She bit her lip. "Do you want to come?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

"Hmm," Damon thought it over for a moment, stepping closer. "Maybe I will."

"Good," she whispered to him. "I missed having a partner in crime. You've been spending way too much time with the little Gilbert," Lana complained.

Damon smirked lightly. "Well we don't want him to think something else is going on between us, right?" Damon proposed. When she just smiled and brought her alcohol to her lips, he held up the diary. "Let me put this back and we can leave," he said. She nodded and he flashed out of the room, leaving her to put on her leather jacket to complete the black ensemble.

* * *

"So how long do we have?" Lana questioned, looking at her phone. "It's already eight o'clock. I'm expecting your soon to be brother-in-law is wanting you home by ten? Isn't that your curfew?" Lana asked, smiling wide.

Damon laughed sarcastically. "Oh, ha-ha-ha," he joked. "I told Elena and Jeremy we'd be out all night, considering the fact that you woke up less than an hour ago," Damon told her. Lana grinned, but Damon continued. "And Jeremy will _never _be my brother-in-law. I don't _do _marriage," he scoffed.

Lana clasped her hand on her heart. "Oh! Then how are you going to keep Miss Gilbert satisfied?" she asked, twirling a strand of her curled brown hair. "You _do _know she's going to get bored with the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing and is going to want to get married, right?" Lana asked as they moved down the dark and empty street.

"Well when the time comes, I'll make sure to let her down easy," Damon replied softly and looked at Lana. "What about you?" he asked. "Did you want to settle down and get married…you know, before—"

"Before I became an emotionless bitch?" Lana piped up, smiling.

"No," Damon said knowingly. "I was going to say 'before you met me'," he responded.

Lana laughed, covering her hand with her mouth, and didn't reply to Damon. He looked at her. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"You think I didn't think about our future?" she asked him. "Damon, you're more blind than anyone I've ever met." Lana laughed again.

"What do you mean you thought about our future?" Damon asked, not understanding. Lana sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.

"Damon, I thought about marrying you," she said, unable to hide a smile. "Even when I was a vampire…I mean, I wasn't rooting for the next two years, but I thought about it." She laughed while Damon stared. "You _really _never knew what I wanted? You're in for a rude awakening with Elena. Next thing you know, she's going to want you to adopt a baby with her. That was something I never thought of, but if _I _didn't think of it, _Elena _must be filing for adoption right now." Lana broke out into a smile.

"You don't want children?" Damon asked her.

Lana rolled her eyes for what seemed like the billionth time and sighed loudly. "Ugh. Damon. Let's not do this, okay?"

"Do what?" Damon questioned, not following.

She stopped to face him. "To try and make me _feel _something!" she exclaimed, breaking out into a small laugh. "I don't _care _anymore. I don't _care _about marriage, I don't care about _us, _and I _especially _don't care about children unless they're served on a silver platter in front of me for _dinner_," she said morbidly.

"Oh, come on!" Damon said, calling bullshit. "You can't expect me to believe you don't feel _anything _when I'm around you. When we have sex every night in my bedroom while Jeremy's asleep or during the day when he's at school...when you screamed my name _over and over and over _again in Las Vegas…" He let out a breath of exhausted air. "You can't tell me you don't feel anything when I do this." Damon leaned forward and kissed her, but she quickly pulled away and pinned his throat up against a tree.

"Don't you _ever _accuse me of feeling something for you, Damon," she spat out angrily. Damon choked for a moment, at a loss for strength. "You lost that right when you practically ripped my heart out in the middle of your living room."

But he was stronger than her – not by a few months, but by a whole century. He turned them over to another tree, pinning her hands to the trunk. "Don't act like you're innocent!" Damon snapped. "You set yourself up for failure. You kept _insisting _that I was in love with Elena and that I was never going to change. I was trying to _move on, _but there you were, nagging and _nagging _about how I'll always love Elena, when the truth is…" Damon sighed heavily. "Lana, I _loved _you. I still do," he admitted.

She released her hands from Damon's momentary weakness and shoved him away. "Damon, you were in love with _pain_," she clarified. "_I _was pain. I was the walking, talking reminder of the mistake you made. And you say you love me now…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "_Look at you!" _Lana screamed. "You _finally _got what you've always wanted, but you're sitting around, screwing me every single day." She shook her head and laughed viciously. "You're in love with what you can't have Damon. You couldn't have Elena, so you were in love with her. When Stefan and I were bonded, you loved me. And now, when you finally have Elena, you go for _me, _something you can't ever have again." Lana hung her head and laughed. "Damon, you're _pathetic. _You always were."

"And you were _afraid_," he snapped, nodding his head to his own statement. "You were afraid of loving me. You always were. You might've said it first and _begged _me to love you back, but deep down, you were always _scared. _Scared that I would run off with Elena when I had my first change. Scared that I would never love you like I loved her. _So _scared, that you pushed me right into her arms." Lana shook her head and flashed again, pinning Damon to a different tree. He looked right into her eyes. "Admit it, Lana. You were so afraid that I would never get over Elena that when I gave you the excuse, you went off running with my brother." He laughed lightly. "And then you turned off your emotions, just so you wouldn't feel what _pain _you brought on _yourself_."

Damon didn't know why he was saying these things, but they were all true. And it was something he was just coming to realize.

For a moment, an emotion flashed in Lana's eyes, but then the coldness returned, and she just released him with a slight smirk.

Before she could get a word out, there was a noise. Clapping.

_Clap. Clap. Clap. _"Well done," a voice said in the darkness. Out of the trees, the other Salvatore emerged with a large grin. "I didn't know it was feeling-sharing time," Stefan admitted.

"Stefan," Damon said, maybe with a little bit of relief. Finally, his brother was home.

"Mm…" Stefan muttered. "Not exactly." Stefan paused. "But while we're sharing feelings, I might as well share my own," Stefan replied with a grin. "Damon…sweet, loving, _ruthless _Damon. Sweet, loving, ruthless Damon who ruined my plans to finally return to my rightful place with my one true love." Stefan groaned. "Ugh. I really hate to do this to you, but you leave me no other choice."

Stefan pulled out a gun, and quickly shot three rounds, all in Damon's chest. Damon dropped to the ground, grunting.

"Silas…" Damon muttered through his teeth.

"No!" Lana exclaimed, dropping to catch Damon as he fell to his knees. She looked up at Silas. "What's in the bullets?" she said through her teeth.

Silas shrugged. "Oh, just a little werewolf venom," Silas answered, as if it were no big deal. "He should be dead in a couple days." Silas leaned down and smiled at Damon and Lana. "Because you're Stefan's brother, I'm sparing you…just a smidge. All of the others will die quickly if I don't get what I want."

Silas's head turned to Lana, whose emotions were seeping right through the seams as she realized what the psychic freak had just done. "You don't remember…" Silas trailed off, laughing. "He did his job right."

"Remember what?" Lana asked, looking up at Silas with hatred.

"You'll see," Silas said with a smile as he backed up out of the woods. "You better take Damon home now. I'll bet he wants to see the Petrova doppelganger before he dies."

* * *

**Yes, I'm ending it there. I know, I know. You all probably want to royally kick me in the face right now. But, instead, why don't I just tell you that I'll try and get a chapter out ASAP…but…you know…I have chores…and such. **

**:) Love you guys! *she says nervously* Tell me what you think…**

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	11. XI

**LOL so Misha Collins just gave out this phone number to everyone and is calling and texting his fans…I just sent him one text. I want to see if he responds. How cool would that be! But I can't stop checking my phone…**

**Ian needs to do this. OMFG IAN. IF YOU ARE READING THIS, PLEEEEEEASSSSEE TEXT ME. **

**Yeah, he'll never read this story, so why am I even saying this? **

**Well…do you ever wonder if the stars just randomly go online and start reading stories? It's probably impossible. Like they'd take time out of their busy life to read stupid stories about their characters. Yeah. **

**WHAT IF THEY WRITE STORIES? **

**No, okay, now I'm being ridiculous. **

**Moving on. Here's the deal, I'm in the process of writing like 5,000 manuscripts (no, not really), but I picked one to work on and I'm trying to work on it as much as I can. But I also want to work on FF here. So, I've compromised with myself, and I've come to an understanding. So, I'll only be updating one story a day. It might be more than one chapter, but only one story. Today happens to be I Can Learn to Love Again, and tomorrow is Secret, I think. And then on the weekends, I can upload two stories on one day. **

**It's a really big complicated mess, but here's the bottom line: No more updates until Saturday unless I get another chapter out tonight. And the process will repeat, because next Tuesday I'll be back at this story. I might even update this story on Friday, but I'm not sure. I think that'll be my free day this week because the story I'm supposed to write…I don't have an idea for it. Yet, anyways. **

**Continuing…enjoy the chapter. Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter, but here's where it all gets interesting. **

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. **

* * *

**_XI_**

_"You'll see," Silas said with a smile as he backed up out of the woods. "You better take Damon home now. I'll bet he wants to see the Petrova doppelganger before he dies."_

Images appeared before her eyes, and suddenly, the forest was not where she was. She was in many different places. In Stefan's car, laughing with him. By the lake, on the back of Stefan's car, swinging her legs back and forth as Stefan dropped a bag to the ground and heard a noise. Whipping her head back to see something that was blocked from her vision. The feeling of terror and fear.

And images…images she didn't want to see. Blood. Pain. Menacing eyes that showed no mercy. It all flashed before her, and Lana didn't understand any part of it.

When the images were gone, so was Silas. Lana tried to catch her breath, recovering from the pain and terror that she had felt with the images. She remembered nothing, but felt everything. All she remembered after that night where she walked out on Damon was being emotionless. But she wouldn't let that get to her. She couldn't.

Her arm was draped across Damon's shoulder, and Damon was hunched over, weak. Lana sucked in her breath and remained strong – for Damon. He would die faster without care. With all of her strength, she put her hands on his arms and lifted him as he slumped against her.

"Damon, come on," Lana whispered to him. "Please, Damon. Stay strong. We're only a couple miles away from Mystic Falls." She groaned as he fell against her. The werewolf venom was acting fast. Silas must've put more than he claimed. Damon definitely only had a day or two left. Maybe not even.

"Come on!" She grunted at him and held him at arm's length. "Damon, you can do this." She brushed his hair out of his face and looked into his eyes. "Damon, you can do this. Stay strong. Please. I have to find a car," Lana told him. Damon nodded as the weakness seared through his body. Lana put Damon's arm over her shoulder and flashed out of the woods as fast as she could with the extra weight.

All of the emotions hit her at once, but she remembered what Damon and Stefan had told Elena. She needed to focus on one emotion, and that emotion was clear to her. She focused on the fear – the fear of Damon dying if she didn't get him back to the boarding house. She had a plan. Klaus. Klaus could heal Damon, and she was going to heal Damon. Lana couldn't let him die. It might be masochistic, considering the immense pain he causes her just being in the same room knowing what she knew, but it was pointless. She had to save him, even if he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Elena.

But she needed him secure first.

"Lana," Damon whispered to her as she pulled him further along the street, searching desperately for a car. "Lana, stop. Look at me," he mumbled.

"Damon, we have to keep going," she demanded, but he stopped walking. She searched his eyes, but he was fixated on her neck. Damon's hand moved to her neck, where he brushed her hair away. "No, Damon, now isn't the time—"

"Do you remember when I used to feed off of you?" Damon mumbled, his thumb stroking her shoulder. "Do you remember when we shared blood?" His eyes moved around crazily. "I was so heartless. How could I do that to you?" He looked up at her with sad eyes. "Do you remember?"

"Yes, Damon, of course I remember," she breathed. "But Damon, we have to get you back to the house."

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, ignoring her completely. "And you loved me for me…how could I throw that away?" he mumbled. She didn't have time to respond as Damon drew his fangs from his mouth and bent down, tearing his teeth into her flesh, drawing vampire blood. For a few moments, it felt so good to finally be back in Damon's arms, and it felt even better as he fed off of her. But the blood wasn't giving him strength, and it was only making her strength lessen.

"Damon!" she snapped, but it was too much. He slumped against her, weak, and Lana realized that Silas was underplaying the situation. Damon was already showing the worst symptoms. He didn't have much time.

"You got your emotions back," Damon whispered against her skin, removing his teeth from her flesh. She nodded and pushed him gently off of her and looked around.

"Stay here," she said as she saw headlights appear down the road. Damon nodded carefully and stayed where he was. Lana stood in the middle of the road and the car came to a slow.

"Are you okay?" the human asked, climbing out of the car. "What are you doing in the middle of the road?" The question was shouted angrily.

Lana flashed to the driver's seat. "I'm going to take your car. You're going to walk to the nearest gas station and call someone to pick you up. You won't remember me," Lana compelled.

The human nodded and left at Lana's command. Lana moved over to Damon on the side of the road and put his arm around her shoulder and flashed them to the passenger seat of the car. After she got him settled, she settled herself in the driver's eat and took off down the road, not caring whether she obeyed the speed limit or not.

All that mattered was that Damon needed to get to the house, and Lana would have to call Elena.

* * *

"I'll be right back," Lana told Damon after setting a cold towel on his forehead. She had changed out of her muddy clothes and had gotten Damon into better clothes, too. He was sweating intensely, and he was hardly awake. But as she turned away, he grasped her hand.

"Don't," he told her. "Don't…don't call…don't call her. Don't call Elena," Damon choked out.

"I have to," Lana responded. "She's your girlfriend, Damon, I can't just not tell her about this," Lana argued.

"Please," Damon breathed. "Please don't call her. I don't…" He swallowed. "I don't want her to see me like this." He paused. "I don't want her to see me…to watch as I…"

Lana knelt against the side of the bed and gripped Damon's hand. "Damon, you're not going to die," she told him sternly. "I'm going to fix this." Lana paused. "But someone needs to watch you, Damon, so I need to call Elena," she reasoned.

"I've been on the brink of death by werewolf venom three times," he whispered, smiling lightly. "Just stay with me. Don't save me this time," Damon countered. "Lay down with me," he pleaded.

Lana shook her head and brought his hand to her lips. His fingers moved, moving across her face lightly. "I can't do that," she told him and got up. Lana brushed her hands and knees and pulled out her phone. If Damon really didn't want Elena there with him, she'd have to call someone else.

"Jeremy," she breathed into the phone. "Jeremy, you need to get here. Fast."

Ten minutes later, Jeremy arrived at the house. He was supposed to be at the back-to-school bonfire, but considering Lana's call, he rushed back. "What's wrong?" Jeremy asked, panting at the door. "Is everything okay?"

"No," Lana shook her head and closed the door. "But Jeremy, before I tell you what's wrong, you have to promise not to tell Elena." When Jeremy opened his mouth, Lana intervened. "This isn't for me, it's for Damon. He doesn't want her to know," Lana told him.

Jeremy thought it over for a second, and finally nodded. "Okay. I promise I won't tell Elena." He put his hands in his pockets. "Now what's wrong?"

"Damon's dying," Lana blurted out. "It was Silas…he shot Damon with three bullets, and I think they were all laced pretty heavily with werewolf venom. He's already begun the hallucinations and I don't think he has a lot of time left. A day, at most," Lana breathed out. Jeremy tried to remain calm, but she could tell he was worried. And probably not liking the fact that he couldn't tell Elena.

"What do you need me to do?" Jeremy asked her.

"I need you to watch him," Lana answered. "Take care of him while I go find Caroline," Lana explained.

"Yeah, sure." Jeremy nodded. "No problem. Go ahead. I'll be here if you need me," Jeremy said. Lana nodded and grabbed her leather jacket.

"Thanks, Jeremy," she said.

"Wait," Jeremy stopped her as she walked out. "Lana…something's…different," he admitted.

"I got my emotions back," she said in a rush. "But I really have to go now, Jeremy. I'll be back as soon as I can." She didn't wait for him to respond, and she walked out. Lana had found a set of keys on the coffee table earlier, but she didn't know what car they belonged to. The car she had brought back to the boarding house was hardly a car she could use to drive to Whitmore.

Lana pressed the lock button on the keys to find a corresponding beep. She looked around, and sure enough, there was a car. It wasn't Damon's car.

It was a Porsche.

Her Porsche.

Or, more specifically, the Porsche she stole on her first day emotionless.

Lana inhaled deeply, but had no other choice. She climbed into the sports car and rushed off to find Caroline.

* * *

**Will Damon make it? Oh, you'll have to see. But this still is nowhere near the end of the ride. **

**More as soon as I can! **

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more updates!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	12. XII

**Sorry to keep you all waiting so long, I was sitting around watching Netflix movies all day yesterday and today I had an orthodontist appointment! Normally, that would be a bad thing…and it kind of was because they put TWO chains on my upper teeth, but I'M GETTING THEM OFF IN THREE WEEKS! I have to go back in two weeks for a check and then I get them off the following week so YAY! I'm so excited!**

**But I've heard that getting them off hurts just as bad as getting them on, so ****_crap_****. But, oh well! They'll be off before school starts if nothing goes wrong…**

**Continuing, so I'm going to update this, Secret, MAYBE DTM (but I'm having trouble getting an idea for the next chapter, and the person I ask for those ideas is away right now so I'm just going to wait), and then I'm going to make a new story! I've given up on apologizing for making new stories and deleting new stories because that's just the way my fucked up mind works :)**

***If you couldn't tell, I was completely being sarcastic***

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Tell me what you think!**

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. No outfit for this chapter because...I mean...she's racing against time to save Damon - do you think Lana ****_cares _****about what she wears? **

* * *

**_XII_**

When she pulled up at Whitmore, she didn't waste a single second of her time. Lana got out of her car, shut the door, and flashed to the third floor of the dorm building that she knew Caroline and Elena were rooming at. Without a single hesitation, she rapped on the door loudly – loud enough for the whole hallway to hear her.

"Oh my God, okay! Okay!" someone shouted inside. "I'm coming, _gosh!" _

Caroline Forbes opened the door, her hair up sloppily in a ponytail and in her pajamas. She rubbed her eyes, clearly indicating she was asleep when Lana knocked. "Lana?" she asked, confused.

"Where's Elena?" Lana said quickly. Caroline stuttered.

"I-I don't know," Caroline admitted. "She must be with that professor…" Caroline trailed off. "Whatever. Do you need her?" she asked.

"No," Lana answered. "I need you, Caroline." Lana took a deep breath and elaborated when Caroline raised her eyebrows. "Listen, it was Silas, okay? He…he shot Damon with three bullets heavily laced with werewolf venom and I didn't know what to do except ask you if you could bring Klaus to Mystic Falls again," Lana continued.

Caroline shook her head. "Lana, I—"

"I know you don't owe me a favor, or Damon one, but he's _dying, _Caroline, and he's going to die fast this time." Lana inhaled deeply. "Caroline, _please. _I need your help."

Caroline was silent for a moment, but she stood firm. "Lana, I _can't_," she choked out. Lana took in a deep breath.

"Why not?" Lana asked. "You don't have to see Klaus, I just need his blood. _Please._" Damon couldn't die. Not right when she got her emotions back. Not ever.

"Lana, if I bring Klaus back to Mystic Falls, he might change his mind about Tyler," Caroline whispered. _That's right, _Lana breathed in thought. _Tyler came back to Mystic Falls after Klaus let him. _"If he gets anywhere near Tyler…"

But it wasn't an excuse. Klaus had let Tyler come back to Mystic Falls, and Caroline was being a little harsh. But Lana knew there was another reason – Caroline never liked Damon. Maybe she really was concerned about Tyler, but it wasn't just some random person dying if Klaus didn't give up his blood, it was _Damon. _

But there was nothing she could do. Except for…

"I understand," Lana said slowly, looking at Caroline. "Just one thing."

"Anything that can help," Caroline said sympathetically.

"Don't tell Elena," Lana continued. "Damon doesn't want her to know."

Caroline swallowed. "Uh, yeah. Sure. I won't tell her."

"Great," Lana said and turned away. But she turned back and opened her mouth. "Hey, Caroline?"

"Yes?"

With an immense amount of force, Lana threw her hand out in the air and slapped Caroline across the face. Her hand burned for a moment, but it was over in a millisecond. Caroline clutched her face and turned back to meet Lana's eyes angrily, but instead she found an empty hallway. Angry, Caroline shut the door.

Lana flashed back to the car, and climbed inside. With a small amount of reluctance, she pulled out the phone she had taken from the desk by the door, hoping – preying – that it was Caroline's.

Sure enough, it was.

Quickly, she rustled through Caroline's contacts, trying to find Klaus's name. When she finally came across it, she inhaled largely and pressed the dial button.

The phone rang for a while before Klaus finally answered with his British greeting, though it was a "Caroline" instead of a simple hello.

"Wrong," Lana breathed into the phone. "Your little girlfriend doesn't want you here right now, but I need to see you." She paused. "It's a matter of life or death, Klaus."

Klaus sighed heavily. "Let me guess. Mr. Salvatore is in need of my blood from a werewolf bite?" Lana was quiet. "Yes, well, he never did understand the concept of the werewolf bite, did he? This will be my third time giving up blood for someone I don't even like," Klaus said. Lana took it as a rejection.

"I'll do whatever you want," Lana said to the Original across the line. "You don't have to come to Mystic Falls. I can meet you in halfway," she proposed.

Klaus contemplated over the line for a moment, thinking it over. Lana's knee shook as she anxiously awaited his answer. _Please, _she thought, trying to keep that dam on her emotions standing. _Damon needs to be alive. I need to save him. _

"All right," Klaus agreed after a while. Lana breathed out a silent breath of relief. He gave her simple directions, leading her to a train station in Atlanta. "But this one isn't free like the last one," Klaus told her. "You've got to be extremely willing to save your precious Salvatore, sweetheart," Klaus warned.

"I'll do anything," she promised. "I'll meet you in a couple hours, Klaus."

"Bye, love."

The phone line went dead, and it was time for her to get set out on the open road to meet Klaus.

* * *

All she could think of throughout the ride, despite her best efforts, was her time as an emotionless vampire. She didn't have time to think about the memories while she was rushing to save Damon's life, but they all came flooding to her while she was driving. The way she killed ruthlessly, which wasn't a large issue, but it was pretty damning. The way she tricked Damon into doing what she wanted. The way Damon looked at her most of the time…like he was head over heels for her once more – if he ever was to begin with. But she had been so _cold _to him…so fearless. And to Elena…well, she wasn't really sorry about that part, but it was still rude.

And most of all, she remembered the sex. It made her want to throw up, the way she and Damon spent all of those nights in Vegas. Not only was he cheating on Elena, the sex was _bad. _Not _bad, _like they did something wrong, but it wasn't what it used to be. It was violating…cruel. Damon might've enjoyed it – she couldn't know – but the worst part was, _she _did. The Emotionless Lana. And it sickened her to the very core. It made Elena seem like a saint.

But she didn't have time to think about it as she got out of her car at the train station in Atlanta and readied herself for Klaus. His deal would be cruel, and he had warned her that. But she couldn't let Damon die – that was completely out of the question.

The sun streamed into the station as Lana swiped her hair to the side, nervous as hell. What _would _Klaus want? Would he want to take her with him to New Orleans, like he did with Stefan? Would she be okay with that?

In her vision, a large clock stood ten feet above the ground, ticking away towards the minute they were supposed to meet. Lana came up to the clock and looked around, until Klaus finally came into her vision. His arms were crossed behind his back and a vicious smile teased his lips.

"Morning, darling," he said quietly. "How's your day been?"

"Cut the crap, Klaus," she snapped angrily. "I need that blood and I need it now. What do you want?" Lana demanded.

"I want _respect, _first of all," Klaus responded, his smile dropping. She tensed, trying not to flinch. "I swear, all of you people down in Mystic Falls still don't have a _clue_." He stepped forward. "I would _own _you if I were still there." He paused, as she said nothing. "But, we don't have to worry about that now." Klaus's smile returned. "There are three conditions to my terms, Lana. After you agree, I will give you the blood."

Lana nodded. "Go ahead," she offered. "What are the terms?"

"First of all," Klaus started. He raised his hand and beckoned someone. "Come out now," he ordered into the air. Lana looked around, confused.

Hannah Davis stepped out of a large crowd, gulping down her thirst. It was like a flame to her throat – being around two vampires at a time. But she tried her best to contain herself.

"Hannah…" Lana gasped. "Hannah, what happened? You're not…"

"Human," Klaus finished. "She's not human." He paused. "She's a vampire, but...well, I don't know what the hell she is, but she's grown to be a liability to me and my brother."

"What's your term?" Lana asked, confused. "What do you want me to do with her?"

"I want you to take her back to Mystic Falls," Klaus answered.

"Done," Lana agreed. Klaus laughed.

"You're going to have to acquire a very special type of blood," Klaus warned her.

Lana raised her eyebrows. "O-negative?" she proposed, confused.

"No." Klaus shook his head. "She wants _your _blood. Vampire blood," he clarified.

"She's…she feeds on vampire blood?" Lana asked, majorly bewildered. Klaus nodded.

"I don't know how it's possible, but she hates all of the other blood we give her. She was fine when we took her in, but…" Klaus trailed off. "Anyway, do you agree to take her back or not?" he pushed.

Lana thought it over for a second, but decided for it. "Yes," she answered. "I agree to take her back.

"Excellent!" Klaus raved. "Now for our next term." He looked at Hannah. "Hannah, darling, go sit over there," he said, pointing to a bench near them. "We'll come and get you when we're done."

Hannah nodded and left without another word. Lana inhaled deeply.

"What's the next term?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Klaus stepped closer. "For the next two, you're not allowed to tell _anyone _about them, okay?" he warned her. "If you do, I will hunt down your boyfriend, his girlfriend, her brother, and anyone else in a five mile radius." Klaus paused for an effect. "Understood?"

Lana swallowed. "Understood," she agreed.

"Good," Klaus continued. "Now, I presume Katarina will be coming back upon news of Damon almost dying from this werewolf incident—"

"It was Silas," Lana blurted out. "Not a bite."

Klaus shot her a look. "Does it _really _matter?"

She nodded. "Yes, it does, Klaus." Lana stared at him. "Because I think _you're _going to spill those beans to Katherine, and you should probably get your facts straight before you do so," she shot.

Klaus squared his jaw. "All right, then." He threw his hands up in the air. "It was Silas. _Continuing,_" he snapped. "When she comes back, and she will, I want you to feed off of her." Lana did a double take, confused. "Now that she's human, you can kill her, but _don't_," he told her sternly. "All you do is take a couple sips and _stop._"

"Why?" Lana asked, confused as hell. "What good would that do me?"

Klaus gave a half-smile. "You'll see," he told her. "But that brings me to my next term," Klaus moved on. "After Katarina returns, I want you to take a little DNA test for me."

"A DNA test?" she asked, raising her eyebrows again. "What good would that do? I'm not related to her," Lana stated.

"Don't _question _me if you want blood to heal Damon!" Klaus snapped. Lana again resisted the urge to flinch. "Now, do you agree to all three of these terms or not?" he asked, his voice cold.

Lana swallowed. "I can't tell anyone about the last two?" she asked quietly. "Not even Damon?"

"Not a soul," Klaus answered, his accent thick.

Lana shut her eyes for a moment, but none of it was a question. She had to save Damon, and if taking her best friend back, feeding off of Katherine Pierce, and taking a DNA test with the doppelganger would save his life, it seemed like an enormously _small _amount to pay.

"Fine," she said slowly after a moment's thought. "I agree to all of your deals," she whispered. "And I won't tell anyone about them."

"Excellent!" Klaus smiled and turned behind him. "Elijah," he beckoned.

Elijah Mikaelson came forth, bearing a palm-size bag. He tightened the strings and dropped it in Lana's hand. Without tearing her eyes off of the Original boys, she opened the small bag to find a vile of Klaus's blood inside.

When she looked up, both men were gone, and she was left standing by the train clock with only a few hours until Damon Salvatore's blood was on her hands.

* * *

**I hope you liked that chapter! It's going to start getting interesting from now on…and more serialized. I didn't think that the Vegas chapters were really ****_serialized, _****but LOL it's been like 3 chapters and it already seems like it was 500 years ago. Ah, ****_Vegas. _**

**Tell me what you think about the chapter! I think I'm going to update Secret tonight, too, but I can't be sure! Hey, I might even start on my new story, then!**

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more updates!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	13. XIII

**Hello everyone!**

**So, I made another new story, and I would appreciate it very much if you would go and read it! It's called **_**Keep On Runnin' **_**and it's a story that goes off of the show, much like I Can Never Love Again did. **

**If you would take the time and read it, I would be SO grateful! Thank you!**

**Now enjoy the chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. By the way, I changed the outline of this story, so unless I add some new chapters, it'll be the exact same length as ICNLA. **

* * *

_**XIII**_

When Lana got back to the boarding house, she didn't dare waste a single second by simply using human speed. Once inside of the house she ordered Hannah to the living room and then flashed up to Damon's bedroom, where he was on the bed, surrounded by Jeremy…and Elena.

But she didn't have time to think about that right now.

"Lana," Jeremy gasped, rushing to her and blocking her way. "Lana, I'm sorry about Elena…she stopped by…"

"Don't worry about it," Lana answered quickly, brushing it off. Elena looked up, surprised, and walked over to her, blocking her way, too.

"Lana, what are you—"

"Please!" she snapped. Elena fell silent and she sighed before flashing over to Damon's bed and opening the palm-sized bag Klaus had given to her. She pulled out the vile of blood and tilted it to Damon's lips. He drank the blood willingly, and she could tell he was instantly better. She breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed her muscles. He was safe. She'd done her part.

"You saved me," Damon whispered. Lana nodded.

"I saved you," she responded. "Now go drink some blood to build your strength," she ordered. He nodded and Lana looked at Jeremy, who accompanied Damon to the basement to grab blood.

"Thank you," Elena whispered to her rival vampire as Lana finally caught her breath. "I don't know what I would've done…"

"Don't mention it," Lana replied, giving Elena a smile. "It was my fault, anyway. I shouldn't have let Damon get hit by Silas."

"Have you…" Elena trailed off, confused. "Have you…"

"Gotten my emotions back?" Lana finished for her. Elena was silent. "Yes, Elena. I got my emotions back. Right after Silas shot Damon," she admitted.

"So you got your emotions back…for Damon?" Elena prompted.

Lana shrugged. "I guess you could put it that way." She didn't bother sugarcoating it. Lana still remembered the way Elena treated her as an emotionless vampire. "Excuse me."

Lana brushed past Elena, who didn't say another word. She still had to take care of one more thing…

"Hannah?" Lana asked as she entered the foyer and looked around. Hannah wasn't where she left her. She repeated the name, searching around. Lana turned around sharply and jumped when Hannah appeared before her.

"Oh my God." Lana gasped, clutching her chest. She let out a nervous laugh. "Hannah, you scared me. Come on, let's go get you something to eat, you must be starving."

"I want food," Hannah mumbled. Lana nodded.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I know. There's blood down in the basement—"

"No!" Hannah snapped. "You heard Klaus. He wasn't lying." As Hannah stepped forward, Lana took a step back. "I want _your _blood. Vampire blood. And I want it _now_," she said darkly.

"Hannah, I—"

"Now!"

In an instant, Hannah's fangs expanded and veins popped out underneath her eyes. Lana tried to move, but Hannah was unusually strong for a newborn vampire – almost twice her strength. Hannah gripped Lana's throat and shoved her to the side, where Lana fell with a thump onto the hardwood floor. She tried desperately to back up, but she stumbled as she crawled. Hannah's hand clamped down on her shoulder and turned her over, and Lana realized that it was so abnormal for this to be happening. Hannah wasn't a vampire when they had left the boarding house that night, so it meant that she would've only been four months undead – at tops. But Lana had been a vampire for over a year. It was strange.

Hannah climbed on top of Lana and pinned her down so she couldn't move. With her fangs exposed, she dipped down and began to draw her teeth into the other vampire's neck.

But Hannah barely even tasted a drop when she slumped; limp, on top of Lana and fell to the side. Lana propped herself up on her elbows and recognized the hand that was extended to her. Damon pulled her up, his hand never leaving hers. In his other hand, he held an empty vervain dart.

"She tried to feed off of me," Lana whispered. "And I think she…she might've…she might've killed me if it weren't for you." Lana looked up at him. "Thank you, Damon."

He nodded. "What do you want to do with her?" Damon asked, looking into Lana's eyes worriedly.

But the truth is, she didn't know what to do. What _could _they do? She tried desperately to search for a solution, and that's when she found it.

"Take her to the cellar," Lana decided. "We'll leave her there until we can figure out how to…_cure _this."

Damon nodded, released her hand, and carried the limp, crazy Hannah down to the cellar to lock her up.

* * *

"You're ridiculous!"

The statement was whispered so that it wasn't audible to the person inside of the house. Damon and Elena stood out on the front lawn of the Salvatore mansion, going back and forth. Her arms were crossed, and she was deeply annoyed. Damon was just disgusted.

"Am I so ridiculous to think that something had to be going on for her to get her emotions back _for you_?" Elena proposed to him. "No, I don't think I am!" she answered her own question.

"But you _are, _Elena!" Damon argued. Of course, he was arguing a lie, but it didn't matter. "Elena, you _know _Lana and I used to be together. We loved each other. Why is it such a surprise to you that she would flip the switch when she thought I would die?"

"Because I didn't give a _rat's ass _about you and Stefan when I was emotionless!" Elena refuted. "So why does she? She must've...something had to have happened, Damon," Elena reasoned.

He laughed bitterly. "Elena, you're insane."

"No, I'm not!"

"Then _believe me_!" Damon snapped, angrily whispering. "Nothing is going on." He paused and gave a slight chuckle. "You know, I thought you would learn to get over your jealously after she literally _saved my life_ an hour ago!"

Elena frowned. "That's not fair," she told him. "If you would've told me that you were shot—"

"You would've found a way to get Klaus's blood even when Caroline wasn't willing to call him to Mystic Falls?" Damon proposed and shook his head. "I can't _imagine _the deal she had to made to get that blood. She risked her life for me." Damon shook his head. "I knew you wouldn't be able to handle it if I told you I was about to die again."

"That wasn't your decision to make!"

"Yeah, but I made it," Damon retorted. He threw his hands up in the air. "I'm done having the same argument over and over again, Elena. Learn to deal with Lana or stop your relationship with me." He turned and walked, against his better judgment. He shouldn't have given her an ultimatum, but he was through playing games. Jealousy was a powerful emotion, but it was also annoying. And after all of this time, Elena should know better.

Damon felt like a massive hypocrite, but he told himself it didn't matter.

* * *

As she had time to herself to think, once more, without the pressure of saving her ex-boyfriend's life, the emotions came flooding back to her. Guilt. Fear. Hate. Love. Compassion. Remorse. They were all there, giving her different reasons to feel. She refused to let them rule her.

The images flooded back as she tried to grasp control of her emotions, and they still flickered without giving her an entire picture. How could she not remember something that was right in front of her? How could she forget something that seemed so important? Lana didn't remember turning off her emotions – and what drove her over that edge? It seemed like it would be Damon's choice, but she knew in her heart that that theory was wrong. She remembered laughing with Stefan. She had felt pain – sure – but she knew things were going to be okay. Because she loved Stefan, in a way.

The truth was, she still did. But her feelings had changed since the sire bond – in the sire bond, she felt drawn to him. Pulled. Destined to begin a romantic relationship. But now, all she felt was love – compassion – towards the other Salvatore.

Her real love lied with Damon, but she knew it was impossible to have him now.

After she showered and changed, she thought about it some more. It didn't seem fair to Damon – or Elena – to stay here and ruin their lives. It seemed wrong – morally wrong.

"_I'm done having the same argument over and over again, Elena. Learn to deal with Lana or stop your relationship with me."_

A door slammed after Lana heard the statement, obviously from Damon's mouth. So now she really _had _come between them. Lana didn't want to tell Elena about their time in Las Vegas, and she thought it to be a mistake. She was horrible – vicious and cruel. She shouldn't have tricked Damon like that.

Lana shook her head to herself. She couldn't think about Damon and Elena's relationship. She couldn't think about herself. There was something wrong. She felt it deep inside of her.

Damon knocked on his room door, seeing as Lana was in it. She was sitting on his bed, staring at the floor, deep in thought. Her nail was in her mouth, and she chewed mindlessly.

Damon sat down on the bed next to her, but she didn't move. He reached out and slowly grabbed her hand.

"That's bad for you," he whispered. She looked up at him, her eyes wide.

"There's something wrong," Lana told him. "I can feel it."

"Shh," Damon hushed her, brushing his thumb across her cheek. "Both you and I have had a very stressful day," he admitted. She looked back down to the floor and moved her hand up to remove Damon's fingers.

"I remember what we did," Lana whispered quietly. "Back in Las Vegas," she clarified. When he said nothing, she looked at him and continued. "Damon, I'm so—"

"Lana, it's a two-way street," Damon promised softly. "You're fine. I'm not angry at you."

She shook her head. "Damon, I was so…I was so…I wasn't myself." Tears threatened at her eyes. "I don't know why I was that way with you."

"Your emotions were off," Damon informed her. "Please. Don't worry about it." He wiped a tear that had fallen onto her cheek. "Don't cry," he pleaded. "I'm alive. You're alive. We're good."

She shook her head. "No, Damon, we're not." Lana got off of the bed and tousled her hair. "I can't do this anymore, Damon. I can't tear you and Elena apart and I can't do this to myself." Lana crossed her arms. "I remember telling you that I only wanted no strings," she reminded him.

"Yes, _and_?" Damon prompted.

"Damon, I can't do that," she argued. "I love you, and I'll always love you. I couldn't let you die because I love you and I can't stay here because I love you. And I can't come between you and Elena because I love you and it's going to make you miserable."

"How do you know that?" Damon asked, getting off of the bed and walking up to her. She moved a fraction of an inch back. "Lana, I've been waiting three months for you to come back to me."

"I can never be her," Lana warned him. "And you can never love again, after Elena. So why are we playing this game?" She threw her hands up. "I've got to leave. I've got to…I can't stay here."

He blinked at her, wondering if she was serious or not. But in a flash, she was out of his room and had moved into hers. Feverishly, she began to pack her bags. Damon followed after her and finally caught up to her. He gripped her arm tightly and stopped her from going anywhere.

"Lana, _stop_!" he demanded her after he grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

"Packing," she answered. "I have to leave. I can't stay here and hurt everyone, including myself."

"Well you need to stop," Damon growled. When she scoffed and tried to walk away from him again, he pulled her back and secured her by holding her face in his hands. "Lana, look at me! Do you remember when you came back to Mystic Falls a couple weeks ago? Do you remember how I called you the night before you returned?" he questioned her. When she was silent, he continued. "Well?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I remember."

Damon sighed. "Lana, I wanted you back in Mystic Falls. I _still _want you here. We don't have to continue a no strings relationship, Lana, that was all your doing." He paused for a moment. "The truth is…I…" He trailed off.

"You what?" Lana whispered. Instead of answering, he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her lips, and it was the softest one they'd had since the hour before Elena confessed her love for Damon. When he pulled away a few seconds later, he continued roughly.

"Don't leave," he commanded her.

"You chose Elena," Lana reminded him.

Damon half-smiled. "Since when did you care about Elena – even before you were emotionless?"

Lana shrugged and laughed slightly. "True," she admitted. Damon laughed with her and her hands found his on her face. "I remember telling you about Peter," she admitted.

He sighed. "I'm…sorry about that," Damon admitted. "I didn't mean to take advantage of you."

Lana breathed slowly. "Well, I guess the feeling is mutual," she admitted.

"So will you stay?" Damon asked her.

After a while, Lana finally had her answer, but she didn't want to show it with words. All of her emotions were up and down the charts, but there was one emotion that kicked stronger than ever, and it was the right emotion.

She leaned forward and kissed Damon, and they both tried to keep it innocent. It just wasn't working. It was nothing like their Las Vegas kisses, but it was more like the kisses they had back in the spring. Warm, passionate, feverish.

No words were spoken, but her answer was clear. She would stay.

* * *

**I hate writing fluff. But I have to once in a while. **

**Next chapter…ooh. Next chapter's going to be AWESOME, I just have to write it first :P**

**Again, if you would read my new story, ****Keep On Runnin'****, I would appreciate it SO much! Thanks!**

_**Reviews equal love and love equals more updates. **_

_**Love, **_

_**KatherineSalvatore1918**_


	14. XIV

**Sorry for the short wait on this chapter I was watching season 2 all week and was just fangirling so hard over Damon. He's so gorgeous. **

**But you don't need me to tell you that. **

**Anyways, here's the chapter! Enjoy it :)**

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. Sorry for the fluff again, I mean…it won't all be fluff. Listen, some very ****_dark _****things will be going on with Lana in this story. I won't give it all away, but it won't be all chocolates and rainbows for Damon and Lana, but it won't be like it was before. It's going to be different – darker. As if it could get any darker after he abused and manipulated her for months before her transformation. **

**Continuing, just be prepared. And sorry for the cliffy that's going to be at the end of the chapter, I know you all will hate me.**

* * *

**_XIV_**

In the morning, Lana woke up, alone in Damon's bedroom. Why was she in Damon's bedroom? She distinctly remembered Damon telling her that they had to sleep in separate bedrooms while under the same roof as Jeremy Gilbert.

"Good morning," Damon said, walking into his bedroom to greet Lana. "How'd you sleep.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Lana asked, rubbing her eyes and tousling her hair. "I shouldn't have slept in your room, considering…" Lana trailed off. "She didn't…Elena didn't _hear _us, did she?"

Damon shrugged. "No," he confessed. "She left by the time I came upstairs to talk to you yesterday before we…" Damon trailed off and sipped the coffee in his head. "Well, you know."

Lana nodded and sighed deeply. "I guess I should get changed."

"I have some of your old stuff," Damon said, pointing to the dresser in the room. "I don't think you're going to want to wear some of the stuff you bought…back when," he said, slipping his hand into his pocket.

Lana nodded at him again. "Thank you," she said as he walked over to her. Hesitantly, he put his finger under her chin and tilted her head up to kiss her lightly. It was an innocent kiss, and Damon pulled away after a few seconds.

"How are you doing?" Damon asked quietly.

"Better," she admitted and threw the covers off of her body. With vampire speed, she grabbed her clothes from the drawer and began to slip her black jeans on over her undergarments. "I still feel…a little lost, but there's nothing I can do about that," Lana confessed.

"Do you want to get something to eat?" Damon asked. When her eyes widened a little, he held up his hand. "I didn't mean _that _kind of food, I meant human food. We could go to the Grill for lunch. Take your mind off of things?" he offered.

She slipped an olive green shirt over her head and flipped her hair out. "Wouldn't that sort of be an issue…with your relationship and everything?" Lana asked, looking at him for a moment but slipping on Converse tennis shoes in the next.

"Elena and I have an understanding," Damon said as he tilted the coffee cup towards his lips. "She knows that you're apart of my life, and she's going to deal with it." He shrugged lightly. "And as far as she will know, we'll be two friends going out for lunch to try and make you feel better and get you back on track to getting a handle on your emotions." Damon shot her a smile.

Lana returned the small smile. "So, it's like a non-date date?" she questioned him, raising an eyebrow. He winked.

"We'll just have to see," Damon taunted. "You feel up to the Grill or would you prefer something out of town?"

Lana contemplated for a moment. "Surprise me," she decided. Damon nodded slightly.

"Okay, then." He held out his hand. "Let's go downstairs and get you a _real _meal before we go out," Damon offered. After a look of mild concern crossed her face, he sighed. "A blood bag. You still need to drink blood."

"I feel terrible about it," she admitted, walking up to Damon and grabbing his extended hand.

"Don't," he said simply. "It's apart of your nature. Drinking from a blood bag won't hurt anyone," Damon reasoned, squeezing her hand lightly.

For a moment, Lana debated on telling Damon she wanted to drink animal blood. But she knew it wouldn't be a good idea. It would only diminish the strength she had, and Lana had a feeling there was more to Silas's mystery than he led on. She would need that strength.

"Okay," she agreed after a while. "Let's go."

* * *

When they pulled up at a pub, she looked around curiously from the car. Damon watched her, a hint of a smile on her face as she slowly began to recognize it.

"Is this…?" she trailed off.

"Yes," Damon interrupted her, cutting off the engine. "This is where I took you when I tried to have that one date with you back when Elena was emotionless."

She turned to him, confused. "Why are you taking me here now?" Lana whispered.

Damon's eyes shone in the mid-afternoon sun. "I planned the perfect date back then," he admitted. "I'm going to see through to it," Damon warned.

She bit her lip. "Damon, do you really think this is a good idea…?" Lana trailed off, her heart stammering. Feelings of desire, guilt, and love crashed over her like a large ocean wave. Could she handle being around Damon without completely losing control? Her emotions were off the charts and she was trying desperately to get a handle on them. To be honest, being a vampire was a tough job.

It was much easier when the emotions were negligent.

"_I _think it's a good idea," Damon argued. "But it doesn't matter what I think right now. Whatever makes you feel comfortable."

Lana opened her mouth slightly, as if to retort at him. But it astonished her. From Day 1, all Damon ever did was boss her around. While she was human, at least. She might've been strong enough to stand her ground for a couple arguments, but other than that, she was completely lost to him. But now…now all he seemed to do was care about her, and it made her feel good. Complete.

Slowly, Lana nodded. "It's fine," she agreed. "We can go in."

He gave her a dashing smile before opening his door and climbing out. She opened the door and stepped out of the car also, and Damon walked around to meet her. He shut the door and she thanked them as they began to walk into the pub.

"So what's on the agenda, Mr. Salvatore?" she questioned him with a large grin.

"Drinking," he admitted. "Eating, billiard, beer. More eating, more billiard, and more beer." Damon shot her a smile. "You get the picture."

It didn't take long before she _did _get the picture, but the picture included dizziness.

"Aren't vampires supposed to be…like, _immune _to getting drunk?" Lana laughed as the bartender passed them another shot. Damon grinned at her and passed her one of the tequila shots he had ordered.

"It doesn't work like that, sweetheart," he told her calmly. "It doesn't last long, but yes. We get drunk." Damon tilted his glass to hers and she tapped it lightly before they both threw it back. After her cringe, she shook her head and turned to Damon.

"I remember getting drunk a couple times in Vegas," she confessed to him. "Though it was mostly a blur. All I really remember was the time you and I spent together and the time I spent feeding…which was a lot. But it was all a big blackout."

"And you still don't remember anything about the time after graduation and before you woke up?" Damon pressured.

Lana puckered her lips sourly and shook her head. "No. It's all a bunch of images, but the images don't make sense. I have _no clue _what they mean. It's like I'm remembering it, but I don't remember it." She shrugged. "It's weird." Lana gave a signal to the bartender to tell him to stop. When she turned to Damon, she sighed heavily. "I don't want to drink anymore. All I've done for the last month is _drink_," Lana said bitterly.

"How about a game of pool?" Damon suggested, gesturing towards an empty pool table in the back. She ran a hand through her hair, nervous.

"Damon…I don't really play pool."

Damon rolled his eyes. "It's not that hard," he responded. "Come on. I'll teach you."

"But Damon—"

He waved a finger at her. "Ah, ah, ah," Damon taunted. "Eat, billiard, drink. That was the plan."

She frowned at him as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the back table. With a yawn, she leaned against the table and watched as Damon sharpened two cues with the blue chalk. He handed one of the cue sticks to Lana and left the other one resting on the rack for the moment.

"Hold onto that."

Damon walked over to the end of the table and gathered all of the billiard balls into the triangle frame. He rolled them back and forth twice until he removed the triangle frame and grabbed the white ball that was in the upper right corner pocket. He held it up for Lana to see.

"The cue ball," he said, tossing it back and forth between his hands with ease. She nodded at it and he set it in line with the other billiard balls. "Do you want me to break first or do you want me to teach you first?" Damon offered kindly. She smiled up at him.

"Whatever you want," Lana said indecisively.

Damon scowled at her. "Okay, I'll break first, then," he decided, grabbing the cue stick that rested against the rack. He set it up between his thumb and forefinger, pulling it back and forth until finally pulling it back and pushing it, pushing the cue ball towards the other balls – hard. The billiard balls separated, and one of the solid balls entered a pocket.

Contemplating, Damon pursed his lips and looked down at the table meaningfully. Lana watched with anticipation as Damon leaned over the table, aiming his eye on a ball and repeating the same process with the cue stick. The white ball missed the billiard ball, but he had meant for it to be that way. Lana bit back a small smile.

"Okay," Damon said, looking up at her. "Your turn." When he saw her childish grin, he smiled at her. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Lana said carefully, walking over to the billiard table. "How do you do this?" she asked him.

He stood behind her and carefully placed her hands in the earlier positions. Maybe he had intended for the date to be full of contact, but she couldn't tell. His lips, close to her ear, whispered instructions as his hands demonstrated for her, and eventually guided her to making the perfect hit. She hit a striped ball into a middle pocket.

Lana smiled widely, and straightened. Damon's hand rested on her hip and her slipped a finger into a belt loop, pulling her closer with a devilish grin. She laughed.

"What are you doing, Damon?" she asked him, smiling.

"There's no one we know at this bar," Damon whispered to her. "That's the whole point."

She reached up and wrapped her hands around his neck, leaving the cue stick to rest on the billiard table. The tips of her fingertips played with his hair. "Can't we just have one day without having to bring up our relationship? Without having to cross that line?" Words were coming out of her mouth, but her actions kept displaying a contrary to her words. But Damon, unfortunately, decided to go with her words.

"You're right," he said, gripping her forearms and pulling her hands back to his chest. "But this is how you're going to learn to deal with your emotions." Damon looked into her eyes. "Close your eyes," he ordered.

With a large sigh, she closed them. His voice was soft in her ear and his fingers traced her cheekbones. "What do you feel?" Damon whispered.

"Love." She choked slightly. "A lot of it," Lana admitted. Damon's soft chuckle was barely audible, but it was still there.

Suddenly, his hand was ripped from her face and he wasn't holding her anymore. "Now what do you feel?" Damon asked. His voice was farther away.

Lana hesitated for a moment before she finally realized what she was feeling. "Annoyed," she said through her teeth.

But then, his hands were back on her, and there was something extra. His lips were on her neck, slowly trailing upwards. "Now?" he whispered.

"Damon…" She groaned. "Please don't do this."

"Learn to control it," Damon commanded her. "Let it in. But don't let all of it in." His voice was soft against her skin.

She did as he was told. Did he really know how bad it had gotten – trying to keep a handle on her emotions? His lips moved back and forth on her shoulder and she shuddered. He definitely was aware.

But she felt the feelings flood in – the feeling that she wanted to take Damon's face and bring her lips to his. That feeling that she wanted to clear everyone out of the bar and take him on the billiard table in front of him. But that would be irresponsible. Cruel. Lustful.

That wasn't her. It couldn't be her.

Lana took a deep breath and tried not to focus on Damon's lips, which had slowly crept their way up to her jawline. Could she deal with this? Just having his lips on her skin – nothing more? Just being around him – nothing more? Could she even deal with the sadness he brought her? The pain?

"I'm going to kiss you," Damon said slowly. Her heart sped up faster and her eyes fluttered open to meet his. "Control it, Lana. Your emotions don't have to get the best of you. I saw it in you yesterday. You're hurting. You're feeling." He paused. "It's good," Damon admitted. "But too much of it can be a problem." Damon hesitated. "If you control it, you'll be able to pull away. I won't," he warned.

With that warning, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, and she melted right in his hands. It was like she was human all over again. The emotion dam broke inside of her, and she became overwhelmed with her feelings. Her hand reached up and grasped Damon's head – and it didn't even matter that they were in a crowded pub, even though they were in the back where no one would see unless they looked. She bit down on his lip, not hard enough to draw vampire blood, but it was pleasurable. Damon kissed back with an equal amount of force, and then it snapped into place.

_In the back of a crowded pub. We can't be doing this here, _Lana thought.

It literally took all of the strength in her body to pull away from Damon's lips, and she realized that she had gotten to it at the right time. Her back was pressed against the billiard table, and his hand was on her thigh, slowly dragging her leg up. When she pulled away, she panted hard, her insides hurting bad. But she did it. She controlled it. If it weren't for that, she would've been having public sex with Damon Salvatore and not even care about it.

Damon smiled. "You did it," he said.

"It took everything," she breathed slowly.

Damon smirked. "Well, of course it did," he teased. She shook her head and laughed, and he slowly peeled himself off of her.

"I have a question," she said to him as he grabbed the cue stick that rested against the pool table and handed it to her.

"Shoot."

"Did you do that purely for my benefit or for yours?" Lana asked, eyeing him. Damon chuckled and grabbed his own cue stick.

"Let's just say it was for the both of us," he admitted and leaned over the table to resume their game.

* * *

They didn't return until it was dusk outside, and Lana was suddenly very glad that Elena was going to Whitmore and had decided not to live with Damon. It made a lot of things easier for the both of them.

Plus, if she saw Elena again with all of her emotions back…she didn't know how it would turn out. Anger – rage – hadn't been much of an issue. But she knew it would be if it came down to Elena Gilbert.

"So," Damon said, turning to her as they entered the house. "How did you like our long-overdue date?" Damon questioned, smirking.

"It was fun," she admitted. "Though I have a confession." Damon raised an eyebrow at her and she continued. "I know how to play pool." Lana shot Damon a smile. "I just wanted to see you teach me." She reached out and poked him in the shoulder and he laughed.

"Joke's on you," Damon said, his eyes shimmering. Lana blushed and shook her head.

"Yeah," she agreed. "The joke is on me."

"Oh." A new voice interrupted them. "I missed a joke? I'd love to hear it."

Damon and Lana turned to see Katherine Pierce sitting in the Salvatore living room, drinking Damon's bourbon whiskey. "I've been waiting for you all day, Damon." Katherine pouted.

"Sorry," Damon said, his eyes flickering to Lana, who was clenching her hand in a fist. "We were out…are you okay?" he asked, looking at Lana.

"Here goes nothing," Lana whispered, and for a moment, her eyes flickered to Damon in a silent apology. In a vampire flash, she was over where Katherine was sitting, her teeth barred and veins showing. Without a single hesitation, she leaned forward quickly and sank her fangs into Katherine's flesh, drinking the human's blood. Katherine cried out in pain, and Damon flashed over to her. He pulled Lana off of Katherine, and Lana stumbled backwards into Damon's arms dizzily.

"Damon…" Lana choked, the blood from Katherine dripping down her chin. She gurgled for a minute before completely collapsing into Damon's arms, limp.

"Katherine, are you okay?" Damon asked, holding Lana steady. Katherine put her hand on the wound and removed it to see blood.

"The bitch drank from me!" Katherine groaned. Damon glared at her. "Yes, Damon, I'll be fine." She paused. "But…will she be?" Katherine asked, pointing to the limp girl in Damon's arms. Damon sighed and shifted, letting Lana slide in his arms. He put his hand underneath of her and pulled her up, carrying her bridal-style.

_What was she thinking? _Damon growled to himself as he dragged her upstairs to his bedroom. What good would come out of drinking Katherine's blood?

It took a while, but eventually, Lana woke up with a large gasp. Damon sat on the edge of the bed, worried out of his mind. Why would she just pass out after drinking Katherine?

"Hey," Damon said, greeting her. He brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. "Are you okay? What were you thinking, Lana?"

She choked, gasping. "Damon…" she trailed off. "Damon…I feel…I feel different," she admitted.

Damon looked at her with concern. "What do you mean…_different_?"

Lana paused for a moment. "I…everything…it's not heightened," Lana confessed. "Damon, what happened to me? I don't feel… I don't feel right."

Damon hesitated, and during his hesitation, he could hear something. It was a beat. A heartbeat.

He looked at Lana with alarm. "Oh my God…" he trailed off. "You must've…when you drank Katherine…"

"What, Damon?" Lana asked roughly. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Lana." Damon gulped. "You have a heartbeat."

The words made no sense. "No, Damon. I'm a _vampire. _Our hearts don't beat," she complained.

"I know," Damon agreed. "I know. Lana, I'm saying…I'm saying that…"

He trailed off, quiet. His hand gripped hers and realized that she was sweating. But Damon didn't have to say much more for her to understand what was happening.

She was human again.

* * *

**So, I can't really take credit for that idea. The "Katherine's blood being the cure to vampirism" comes from ****_NicoleSalvatore1918_****. **

**Yes, I'm leaving it here for now. I'm going on vacation in the next couple of days, but if I really get enough reviews telling me to update, I might be able to squeeze one in. I think tomorrow I'm going to work on ****_Keep On Runnin' _****though since this chapter took longer than expected. **

**More ASAP, but review and yell at me if you REALLY want me to update this this weekend. It's all on you :) If you want, even go vote on my poll. I've reset the stats. **

**Tell me what you thought of the chapter!**

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more updates!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	15. XV

**Thank you for going on my poll and voting if you got around to it! It actually really helps me with my update order since the person I ask now is sometimes not available. All the time, really, but it doesn't matter. **

**I know I've asked before, but if you didn't catch it, would you do me the biggest favor and check out my story ****_Keep On Runnin'_****? It means the world, and thank you if you already have!**

**Also, keep voting on the poll :) If you really want me to update this story FIRST every time I sit down to write something, you have to beat KOR. It's winning by 5 votes!**

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter! Going to be one hell of a ride, and promise not to hate me. **

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. Again, sorry for the fluff in this chapter. Sometimes it's necessary. Trust me when I tell you I freaking ****_hate _****writing it. But it won't all be fluff. **

* * *

**_XV_**

She watched as the water dripped off of her hand and down to the floor of Damon's shower with intensity. It was like everything was different, like everything was foreign. She no longer saw the world heightened – it was dull and unimportant. _She _was dull and unimportant.

Damon had left Lana alone for a while after she had gone into momentary shock from the turn of events. Klaus tricked her into turning human again, but _why_? Why would Klaus care if she were a human or a vampire? Why would Klaus want her to be a human?

After washing up, she shut off the water and grabbed the towel she had laid out. Cold air hit her and she shuddered. She forgot how it felt – feeling cold air. Feeling material on her skin. Lana wrapped a towel around her body and tucked the top in. Still in a small trance, she wrung her hair out over the shower floor and watched as the extra water went into the drain.

_Knock, knock. _

Lana didn't turn, even though she heard the noise with her human ears. Damon entered the bedroom cautiously, trying not to provoke the human. Obviously, she was upset.

"Hi," Damon said softly. "Lana…are you—?"

"Don't ask me if I'm okay, Damon," she whispered, knowing he could hear it. "I'm not okay. I'm human."

"Is that really such a bad thing?" Damon pressured, walking into his bathroom. "I know I ruined your experience as a human, I _know _that. But…maybe…maybe you can have a better experience now."

She shot him a glare. "A better experience?" she said, her voice rising. "Damon, I'm _human. _I'm going to die. I'm going to get old. I'm weak. I'm slow. I'm fragile." Lana shook her head. "How is this better?"

Damon reached out and put his palm on her face and felt a cold shudder run through her. "You're warm," Damon mused.

"So are you," she whispered carefully.

"Don't you miss that?" Damon prompted. "Being able to feel that? Warmth?" He paused. "I know I do."

"It's different for you," Lana told him. "Aren't you…tempted?"

"Don't mistake me for my brother." Damon scoffed. "Though your blood was always appealing, I won't lie." He removed his hand from her face. "I promise I won't screw things up this time. No feeding on you," Damon promised with a sad smile.

"Damon, this is serious," Lana argued. "I'm human. I don't want to be human."

Damon scowled. "Why not?"

She let out a frustrated breath. "Why do _you _want me to be human? Are you glad that I'm human? Now you've got your wish, you've made your choice. Elena's better for you because she's a vampire and she'll live forever and I will grow old and ugly and I'll _die_," Lana snapped. "Is that why want me to be human?"

"What is so _wrong _about wanting you to live a life that I took away from you, Lana?" Damon pressured, now angry. "The worst mistake I ever made was calling you the night of the frat party. It was the _worst _mistake I ever made and I completely regret it." She winced, but Damon continued. "If I hadn't done that, you wouldn't be in this situation. You wouldn't be the target of whatever you're hiding from me. Whatever deal you made with Klaus."

"I'm not a target," Lana assured him, but she wasn't so sure. "But besides that, do you really regret it? Do you really regret bringing me into your life? Do you regret loving me?" Her human emotions – the hormones – weren't all that strong, but it was overwhelming. She hung onto every word Damon spoke, and she didn't know why.

She was pushing him away.

But he stayed silent and said nothing in response to her question, but it was all the answer she needed. Lana threw her hands up.

"Damn it, Damon!" she said, frustrated. "If you really hate me so much, if you really hate the fact that I fell in love with you and the fact that you fell in love with me, why don't you just _compel _me?" Lana squared her jaw. "After all, you've done it before. It wouldn't be so difficult."

He opened his mouth to say something, but she brushed past him and moved to her room, desperate to get away from him. She locked the door just in case Damon decided he wanted to pay her a visit, and quickly changed. She threw on the first thing she could find and opened the door. Damon didn't bother her, and she didn't feel like being bothered.

She needed something, and she had limited time to do it.

Slowly, she snuck into Katherine's room and shut the door. Surprisingly, Lana was good at playing a sleuth. After confirming Katherine wasn't in the bedroom, she looked around for something – anything – that could help her hold up the end of the bargain.

A hairbrush caught her eye.

After looking back at the door, making sure no one was entering, she moved over to the dresser and grabbed the hairbrush. Lana pulled off one long piece of curly hair and put it into a plastic bag that she had found earlier in her room. Letting out a long sigh, she turned around.

"What are you doing?"

Lana jumped slightly, even though the person was standing in front of her. But it was only Katherine. Lana let out a relieved breath and made sure the plastic bag was behind her back.

"I just…I wanted to talk to you," Lana lied. "About…you know, being human, I guess."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Being human sucks and I really, really hate it." Katherine shot Lana a smile. "Now leave."

Lana wasn't in the mood to argue, so she did as told, making sure the plastic bag was never in Katherine's sight. At a normal, human pace, she went downstairs and opened the door.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked from behind her. Again, Lana hid the plastic bag and tried hard not to make a sound with it.

"Out," Lana said through her teeth.

Damon narrowed his eyes. "I don't think that's a good idea," he said to her. Lana squared her jaw again and stood her ground. She wished Damon got to know the real human Lana – the one _not _on compulsion. He might've liked her.

"I don't _care_," she snapped. "Now you do something about it or you let me leave. I'll be back," Lana promised. He knew what she meant by "do something", and to be honest, she was slightly afraid he _would _compel her to stay in the house.

But when he said nothing more, Lana turned and walked out of the house, her heart beating fast in her chest.

And it was annoying.

"Hi," Lana breathed to one of the nurses at the Mystic Falls General hospital fifteen minutes later. "I need to have a DNA test taken," she told the nurse.

The female nurse nodded. "We can have a DNA test ready in three days," she promised. "Is it by a fluid, such as blood or spit, or a hair follicle?'

"Hair," Lana answered. She passed the plastic bag to the nurse and added another one, which was her own.

"The subjects?"

"Katherine Pierce," Lana answered. The nurse labeled the bag and looked at Lana for the next name. "Lana Mercer."

After paperwork was filled out and she was told the expected result date, she sighed heavily. Klaus turned her into a human to take a DNA test with Katherine, but what would that prove? She wasn't related to Katherine. She was the daughter of Kelly and Hank Mercer, a bartender and a teacher who used to work in Mystic Falls, but moved to Europe after Lana had gone off to college. And she hadn't spoken to them in three years.

When she returned home, it was dusk, and truth be told, she had done a couple drives around the block before she came back. She wasn't ready to face Damon.

Lana knew she had pressured him to compel her, but she hated it. She didn't want to be compelled, and she wanted to be a vampire. But Damon wouldn't do it, would he? Damon wouldn't compel her to feed his own personal gain. To get her out of his life forever.

Even if he stayed with Elena, she still wanted to know about him – no matter how much it hurt.

When she entered the boarding house, he was waiting for her, sitting on the couch drinking his bourbon. Nothing unusual.

"You're back," Damon said, not lifting his eyes to see her. Lana nodded.

"I am," she admitted. "And I'm sorry for the way I acted," she admitted. "I'm sorry for trying to get you to compel me. I don't want to be compelled. Ever." Lana moved in front of him and squatted down beside him. "Damon, I want to be a vampire again."

Damon shook his head. "No," he said. "No way."

"Why not?"

"Because, Lana!" Damon shouted. "You could _die. _And by 'die', I _literally _mean _die_. You might not come back."

Lana shook her head. "You don't know that. You don't know how this works, Damon. I could be fine."

"Or you could be dead," Damon corrected her. "Don't make me risk that. Don't make me risk your life to be an abomination." He paused and turned to her. "Why do you want to be a vampire so much, anyway? Because you're afraid I'll leave you for Elena?"

"Everything is _wrong,_" Lana answered, standing up. Damon repeated her movement, getting up on his own. "And I _hate _feeling this way. Being a vampire is _better_." She shook her head at him. "Don't tell me you wouldn't jump at the chance to turn yourself if you turned human, because you would be lying."

Damon stared at her. "That's it? Just because you don't feel right? Because you're not strong? Because you're not fast?"

"Because I'm afraid of losing you, Damon," she offered. "I'm afraid of losing you."

"You haven't lost me," Damon assured her. "I'm right here. I'm with you. Haven't we been through this?"

Lana shook her head. "You will never leave me for Elena," Lana told him. "You will never love me as much as you love her. And as a human, all of that has a bigger affect because I'm human."

"But I _love _you," Damon argued. "Isn't that enough?"

For a moment, there was a silence. And maybe it was their proximity – who knows? – but soon after, their lips met and it felt good. Not as good as the passion when you're a vampire, but good. Possibly even better, though both of them were too lost to think about it.

And an hour later, when they had finally experienced being together without the added item of bloodlust.

For the first time in a long time, she was actually _tired. _Not worn out, like being a vampire does to you, but _tired. _Quickly, she fell asleep, next to Damon, and he didn't dare wake her up. Instead, he slept beside her, and everything felt right.

For a few hours, anyway.

* * *

_Her screams echoed through the dark, enclosed space and the pain was too much to handle. The vervain on her skin would not stop its trail of fire, and it only made her scream louder thinking of the pain. When it finally stopped, her panting slowed after a while._

_"What do you want?" she growled through her teeth. "Just let me go."_

_"I want you to stop caring about Damon Salvatore," the man in front of her taunted. "I want you to stop caring about him and his relationship with the Gilbert girl. I want you to stop feeling for him." _

_"I can't do that," she choked out. "I love him. I can't help that." _

_"Then I'll just have to help you help that." The vervain trail started again. _

_She lost count of the days since she had been at the quarry, and it was getting harder and harder to stick through things. The torture would be consecutive, and she would only have an hour or two to heal herself. But it wasn't enough time. _

_"Who took the Cure?" he asked in front of her, tossing the wooden stake in his hands. She gulped and didn't say anything. "Fine, then." _

_Like it was a dart, he threw the wooden stake at her and aimed it at her shoulder. She cried out in enormous pain and hissed through her teeth. "I thought the point of this was to make me hate Damon, not to figure out who took the Cure." _

_He shrugged. "Call it an experiment," he suggested. "Who took the Cure?" _

_"I don't know!" She screamed at him. "I left before I figured it out. You know that." _

_He laughed and shrugged. "Yeah, I do." Again, he threw the next wooden stake like a dart. It pinned her hip to the stonewall. "I just like messing with you." _

_She felt like it had been years after that. As each day passed, the torture continued, but her days fell into one another. There was no sun, there was no moon, and there was no hope. The only way she would return to civilization is if she let her feelings for Damon Salvatore vanish. _

_But it was impossible. She knew that it was stupid, because he hadn't picked her, but she also knew that his choice had not affected her feelings. Yes, she hated him, but she loved him more. And it seemed self-destructive. All of his actions before she turned into a vampire should tell her that, but it was useless. She was hopelessly in love with him, and it was actually quite sad. _

_The man sighed. "I've tried and I've tried and I've tried, but you really love him, don't you?" _

_She was too weak to answer. Blood dripped off of her everywhere, and there was a pool around her. She had only seen him clean it twice. _

_"So, if I can't make you stop loving him, I'll have to try something else. Something that will last for a while." He _tsk_ed. "I was really hoping you would forget all about your love for him, but I guess that's useless. I guess I'll just have to make you turn it off." _

_She raised her head, realizing what he was talking about. "Please," she croaked. "Don't make me turn it off. I want my humanity. I don't want to be emotionless." _

_"I'm sorry, darling," he said unapologetically. "It has to be done." _

_The line of vervain and the wooden stake darts had overwhelmed her, and she felt herself give in. _

_"I can't!" she screamed. "I can't!" _

_"Yes, you can!" he yelled back, equally as powerful. "Turn it off." _

_"I…I…" she trailed off, a tear escaping her eyes. "I don't want to. Please don't make me." _

_He twisted a wooden stake deeper into her stomach. "Turn it off, Lana." _

_She let another tear fall. "Please—Ah!" He moved the stake so it was scraping her heart. One movement and she would be dead. One movement and she would never get to see anyone she loved again. No one. Ever. _

_"TURN. IT. OFF."_

_ Lana could feel it – her body giving in. She had flipped the switch, and he had finally won. _

_Peter had finally won. _

* * *

_"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"_

Lana opened her eyes to see Damon hovering over her, his eyes full of deep concern. "Lana, what's wrong with you? You were screaming. Are you okay."

"Damon…" She began to cry. Suddenly, she remembered it. Not all of it, but the time she spent in the cage. Three months of nothing but torture. Three months of trying to get her to lose her feelings for Damon.

"Oh my God," Damon whispered. "Lana, what happened? What's wrong?"

"I remember," she sobbed. "I remember it all. Where I spent the last three months." She put her head in her hands. "Damon, it hurts."

"What happened?" he repeated.

"I was with Peter," she answered. "He tortured me for the summer. He tried…he tried…" Lana choked as Damon brushed a piece of cold sweat covered hair off of her face. "He tried to make me stop loving you. With torture. Vervain. Wooden stakes. He didn't use sunlight because I was trapped underground. I never left. I never fed." She stopped to sob again. "Damon, I feel it. I remember it. Please… I don't know what to do."

But he did.

"Come here," he ordered her, pulling her out of the bed with him. Though her sobs diminished, the pain did not. The vervain line still trailed down her body and the wooden stakes still created holes in her skin. He led her to her room and slowly began to pack her stuff in a bag.

"Damon, what are you—"

"Shh," he told her. Although not compelled, she stayed quiet.

It wasn't long before he finished putting all of her stuff into a bag, and he led her downstairs, the bag firmly in his hand.

Damon stopped at the door and took in a deep breath. He grabbed her face in his hands.

"Damon, please…" she trailed off. "Don't compel me. I want to stay here. I want to stay here," she repeated.

"Shh." This time he compelled her. "I have to do this. I'm selfish, remember?" He gave her a light smile. "You're going to leave. This time, you won't remember anything. Nothing about the last year. You don't know me. You don't know my friends or my brother. You don't know about vampires. You won't remember your love for me or my love for you. When someone mentions Mystic Falls, you don't respond and you walk away. When someone talks about Damon Salvatore, you don't answer and you walk away. You will never remember this place unless _I _tell you to." He grabbed Lana's bag and put it in her hand. "Go back to Whitmore. Enroll again. For the last six months, you've been travelling around the world. You're going to be normal. You're going to be _happy_." He paused. "Do you understand me?"

"I understand you," she repeated in a monotone. He felt déjà vu consume him as he opened the door.

"Goodbye."

She tilted her head at him. "Goodbye."

And without another word, she left the house. Damon sighed greatly.

"What did you do?" Katherine asked him. "I thought you loved her."

"I do," he responded. "But she was hurting. A lot. I only made that worse." Damon sighed. "Her ex-boyfriend tried to make her forget her love for me…" Damon trailed off. "I was selfish. She didn't want me to do it, but I did. I'm better off without her."

Katherine let out a light laugh. "Damon, I think you've got that all twisted," she told him. Biting her lip, she continued. "That was one of the most selfless things you've done in your entire life."

Damon sighed. "Why are you _here_, Katherine?"

"Does it matter?" she prompted. He shrugged.

"No, it doesn't." He moved past her. "I'm going to bed."

* * *

**Déjà vu, anyone? Yeah, I just thought of that a couple days ago. Was the chapter crappy or was it just me?**

**Anyways, tell me what you thought. **

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more updates._**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	16. XVI

**Hello, everyone! Sorry for the short wait on the chapter, but I was updating my Ian/OCs :) Aren't we all happy he won the award last night?! I know I am!**

**So this is a special chapter because we're repeating history again. This chapter is going to be in the point of view of our two main characters, Lana and Damon. Every time their name is in bold, it switches to that person's POV. Remember, Lana knows nothing about Damon or the Salvatores or anything that's happened for the past year.**

**It will take place a day and a half after Damon compelled her to leave. **

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. **

* * *

**_XVI_**

**Lana Mercer**

"Lana?"

When I heard my name called, I realized that I had been zoning out. I did that often. Ever since I got back from Europe. It was odd, I knew that, but it was unexplainable. I felt…empty inside. Like there was something missing. Something important.

I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Yes?" I said softly after a pause. Nicole looked at me with worried eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "I mean…you haven't been the same since you got back yesterday. Is it because Hannah moved to Georgia over the summer?" Nicole inquired nosily. I stiffened.

I didn't eve know that my best friend had moved until I got back two nights ago. The sunshine of the afternoon beat down on my face and I shifted uncomfortably. I didn't like being out of the loop very much, and seeing as my best friend up and ditched me while I was in foreign countries for the last couple months, I figured I was a little out of the loop.

When I re-enrolled at the college, they started asking me many questions – questions I couldn't answer. Why did I miss so many classes? Why was my dorm room uninhabited? They had ceased it and given it to someone else when they got the tip that no one was living there. Why didn't I inform anyone I was dropping out?

I knew none of the answers to these questions, and all I could say was that I was in Europe and apologized multiple times. Eventually, I was worked out another room, one all to myself, and was given another schedule with classes lower than what I was supposed to be in. I didn't understand it at all, and it kind of saddened me. How did I let myself get so far behind?

The weirdest thing – believe it or not – was that I remembered slightly being in Europe, but I didn't remember visiting my parents. Wouldn't I have dropped by if I were in the same country as them? I didn't even remember what countries I visited.

It was all a large blur – an unexplainable one.

"No," I countered after a while. "I'm just confused. I…don't remember much," I admitted.

Nicole sighed. "I bet it all has to do with Damon. You were pretty shaken up the last time I saw you. And then you just disappeared…" She trailed off, as if searching for an answer as a response from my mouth.

I didn't know who Damon was, but people kept asking me about him. All I did was stay quiet and move onto something else.

"So how is Jackson?" I asked as we walked through the commons area of the college.

"He's great," Nicole told me. "Haven't you seen him since you got back?"

"No. I haven't gotten the chance," I confessed. "He's like…avoiding me. I don't know why." Suddenly, I felt an odd chill wave over me. Worriedly, I looked around me and stopped in my tracks. College students passed by me and Nicole began to chatter incessantly while I looked around.

"Do…do you feel that?" I asked her, grabbing her arm, making Nicole stop mid-sentence. She looked at me like I was crazy.

"You're death grip? Yeah, Lana. I feel that." She removed my fingers from her arm and I felt the cold chill run through me again. From a tree, a crow barked at me – _me, _specifically. At least, that's what I thought it felt like.

"But…" I trailed off. "It's…" I felt the chill again. Was someone…_watching me_?

"Lana?" Nicole asked me wearily. "Are you okay?"

I snapped out of it instantly after the crow behind me flew away into the afternoon sun. I took a deep breath and nodded at her. "Yes," I said after a while. "I just…uh…how about we go to class?" I offered.

"Good idea," Nicole agreed sourly, and we walked off in a different direction to go to class, the crow nowhere in sight.

* * *

**Damon Salvatore**

I was already on my fourth glass of bourbon whiskey and it wasn't even two o'clock in the afternoon yet.

Katherine twirled down the stairs, but not gracefully. She was a mess as a human, and I kind of found it funny. The roles were finally reversed.

But nothing would amuse me right now. I had told Elena about compelling Lana to leave, and though Elena was still mad at me, I could tell she was happier that I let Lana go. And it was one of the hardest things I had to do.

Which only made me drink more.

Katherine sighed. "You've been bumming around the house for a day and a half now," she snapped. "I didn't come all the way from my hiding place to watch you mope over something you brought onto yourself."

I responded in a monotone. "Who says I'm moping."

Katherine narrowed her cat-like eyes at me. "How many glasses of bourbon have you had?"

"I drink bourbon every day, Katherine."

"How many?"

"I am not amused."

"_How many_?"

"This is my fourth." I tilted my glass to her. "Cheers." I shot the doppelganger a bittersweet smile.

"You're ridiculous, Damon," Katherine informed me.

"Excuse you?"

"You heard me," she snapped. "You compelled the girl to leave and yet you're sitting around here moping. I'm sorry, and let's not forget the fact that you _did _choose Elena over her, right?"

I frowned. "You're very well informed."

Katherine smirked. "Caroline loves to dish the details." Katherine plopped down on the couch next to me and I offered her a glass. She took it graciously and took a large gulp. "Why'd you do it?"

"She was hurting," I responded. "I was being selfish with her. I wasn't going to let her suffer when I'm not even sure what I want."

"She obviously loves you."

"No _shit, _Katherine," I snapped. Katherine flinched. "I'm…sorry, I'm just not in the mood to talk about it."

"You do know that she's not safe, right?" Katherine said after a hesitation. "I mean, she did fall in love with you. There's a reason Klaus made her drink my blood. He must've known she'd turn human."

"Your point?"

"She's human, Damon," Katherine said incredulously. "She can't protect herself. Just because you compelled her to forget doesn't mean the whole world does." Katherine scoffed after she downed another gulp of the alcohol in her hand. "I wouldn't be surprised if innocent Miss Elena tried to wrap her hands around the girl's throat. You know she hated her."

"Elena wouldn't do that."

Katherine shrugged. "I'm just saying that I wouldn't be surprised." Katherine grunted as she got up from the couch. "Ugh. I hate being weak. It sucks." Katherine sighed. "I hate Elena. I hate Elena," she chanted.

I laughed to myself as Katherine made her way up the stairs in a normal human pace. But I soon realized that Katherine was right. Lana wasn't safe.

_Could I…_? I thought, trailing off.

Just one day. Not even a whole day. Just through the night. I would make sure she's okay and then break away from her forever. Push her out of my mind. It had to be done.

"I'm going out!" I yelled at Katherine in a loud voice so she could hear me.

"Okay!" Katherine yelled back. "I'll just…be here," she mumbled. I smirked and grabbed my leather jacket and headed outside, basking in the warm sun. It was too warm to be the beginning of October, but it was.

It didn't take long before I showed up at the college, and I tried my best to be conspicuous. In nostalgia, I grabbed a crow on my way, controlling it with my mind. I kept a safe distance from the human I was watching and let the crow watch her for me.

She was dressed in normal clothes, for her. A simple blue top and black jeans. Her tall Louboutins made my mouth water, but I snapped out of it. I couldn't go through this again. Elena Gilbert loved me. I finally had her.

But I sighed to myself. I wasn't so sure that I wanted that anymore.

_"Do you…do you feel that?" _Lana asked her friend…Nicole or something. I stiffened. She couldn't know I was here. She didn't know who I was. I compelled her to forget.

But then again, this wouldn't be the first time Lana Mercer surprised me.

_"Your death grip? Yeah, Lana. I feel that." _Nicole pried Lana's fingers off of her arm. I saw Lana turn around and discover my crow, which was sitting on a tree, chirping. I felt my stomach drop. She couldn't remember. I didn't want her to. I wanted her to have a good, happy, normal life.

Like that would ever be possible for her.

_"But…" _Lana trailed off. _"It's…" _I ordered the crow to fly away, so it did.

_"Lana? Are you okay?" _

It took a while for her to answer, but she finally snapped out of whatever trance she was in. _"Yes," _she said. _"I just…uh, how about we go to class?" _

_"Good idea._" In a moment, they were gone, and I rubbed my head, stumped. She couldn't remember. I was strong. My compulsion was untouchable. Had I been slipping? No. Not possible. She couldn't remember me.

For a moment, I thought about leaving and never thinking of it again, but I decided against it. I needed to see this through. I had to make sure she was okay.

I followed her in the direction she walked in, keeping a safe distance.

* * *

**Lana Mercer**

Nightfall came, and I was extremely tired. It was more common than ever – my tiredness. That empty hole burned whenever I thought about anything important. I just wanted to sleep.

I returned to my dorm room late at night after making up assignments in the library. I had actually gotten good at making sure that I kept up with everything and made up everything I missed so next semester I could be bumped up to greater achievement classes rather than the low-grade classes I had now. It was around twelve o'clock when I had returned to the dorm.

I quickly changed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth, all in preparation to get a few hours of shut-eye until I had to wake up for classes. Luckily, my next class wasn't until three in the afternoon tomorrow. I would get enough rest. Maybe that would cease my tiredness.

I returned to my dorm room and gathered my brown hair into a tight ponytail, which was bound to get messy overnight. I turned off the lights in my room and climbed into my bed, ready to sleep.

That changed when I rolled over and felt another person's breath on my neck. I opened my mouth to scream, but the person interrupted. It was a man.

"Shh," he ordered. His hand moved up to toy with my hair. I felt myself shudder and climb out of the bed instantly, scared out of my fucking mind. I turned on the lights to see a familiar man in front of me.

"P-Peter?" I stuttered. "What the…what the _hell? _You're supposed to be in _jail. _Get out! I'm calling the police." I turned to my cell phone and tried to grab it, but Peter stopped me.

"No you're not," he told me calmly and took the phone out of my hands. My heart stammered fast. "Oh, look at that. You're scared." He toyed with my hair again. "There's nothing to be scared of, love. You did what I asked. Now you'll do it again."

"Get off of me!" I demanded as his hands secured my head. I pushed and shoved, but I found myself weak. My limbs were numb and dull. Why wasn't I stronger? I pushed him and pushed him, just enough to keep him from doing whatever he wanted to do with me. But it didn't last for long. He grasped my hands in his and refrained them from doing anything else. I tried to scream, but he flipped my hands so that my own fingers were clutching my mouth, muffling the noise.

"I won't hurt you," he promised. "Yet."

Just when I thought it wouldn't get any worse, the door busted open and shut instantly. Someone flashed across the room – faster than anything I've ever seen before. I didn't see a face, but I knew something was wrong. That kind of speed was inhuman.

In a moment, Peter was knocked to the side and I was free. I stumbled as Peter gripped my ankle, refraining me from leaving. I couldn't find a scream through my sobs and tried to get out of his grasp. I fell on the floor and tried to kick him off. The person who flashed into the room was clawing at Peter's hand, but I still didn't see a face. All I saw was dark hair and a leather jacket.

Finally, my ankle was let loose. I moved to the corner of the room and tried to understand what was going on. I pulled myself up and watched, but there was so much going on I couldn't figure it out.

I let out a small scream when I was pushed to the nearest wall, shoved out of the way. My savior shoved Peter against the wall, but I still couldn't see a face. I stayed where I was, motionless, and eventually I heard a snap. I cringed at the sound, but then a hand clamped around my shoulder and spun me around. I thought about screaming, but I didn't get the chance to. Peter was on the floor, his arms spread out and his neck loose, and I was lifted into the strange man's arms. In a moment, we were out of the room and he put me down on the ground and grabbed my hand. I felt an odd warmth run through me and knew I was safe. He pulled me down the stairs with him, and I instantly regretted getting a room on the top floor of the dorm building.

"Who are you?" I asked as I bounced down the stairs.

"There's no time for that. I have to get you out of here. He won't be down much longer."

"But—" I was stopped when the man turned around and secured my face in his hands.

"Do you trust me?" he whispered. After a hesitation, I nodded.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Then close your eyes," he told me. I did as I was told and I was lifted for a moment. Then I felt like I was flying through the air, and the next moment I was on the ground, back running with the man's hand in mine. I followed him, trying to keep the pace. Eventually, we ended up in a blue 1969 Chevy Camaro convertible. He pushed me into it and shut the door, and in a mere second he was inside of the car and pulling out of the college parking lot.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Where are you taking me?"

"Trust me," he said again. "I'll explain. Just let me get you home first."

"Home? Where's home?" I shook my head. "This is my home. Whitmore is my home."

"Your home is with me, Lana," he growled and sped the vehicle faster. "I never should've compelled you. You're not safe out there. I didn't realize he'd be after you."

"Peter's supposed to be in _jail_," I snapped. "What the hell do you know about him being out?"

"I don't know!" the man grunted. "I don't know. Please stop asking questions."

"Who are you?" I growled. "Why am I here?" I paused. "Do I…know you?"

He laughed bitterly. "Yeah, Lana. You know me." The man pressed his foot on the gas pedal faster. "Now stop asking questions." He turned his eyes towards me, and I felt the strange urge to stay quiet. I relaxed in my seat and he continued driving.

Later on, we ended up at a large mansion. The man got out of the car and flashed to my side, where he opened the door for me and held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me out and shut the door. I turned to walk into the house, but he pushed me up against the door of the closed-top convertible.

"Remember," he whispered, his thumb brushing my cheek.

* * *

**3****rd**** Person POV**

Her hand connected with his face angrily and she stormed inside of the Salvatore Boarding house. With a large and angry grunt, she moved towards the bar in the living room ahead of her and poured herself a glass of bourbon. Lana downed it in one gulp and cringed at the burn in her throat.

"Lana, you have to understand why I did it!" Damon argued, walking into the house. She shook her head.

"I don't want to hear it."

"I just wanted you to be safe."

"Oh yeah?" she challenged. "And look how well that turned out!"

"I'm _sorry_," he pleaded. "Please. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's a little too late," Lana barked. "I mean…Damon, I almost died tonight. Mostly because I was human, but because I had no one. I didn't know what was going on."

"I'm _sorry_," Damon said again. "But you got past it once." He paused and stepped closer to her. "Do you think that you could forgive me? Please?"

She bit her lip, thinking of something he could do for her. And finally, she realized.

"I'll forgive you," Lana said at last. "If you do something for me."

"Anything," Damon breathed. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I wanted to protect you."

"I know, Damon." She shook her head. "But I need to be able to protect myself," Lana whispered.

Damon slowly began to realize what she wanted. "No," he said eventually. "No way. I can't take that chance with you."

"You said you'd do anything!"

"_Not _that," he growled. "I can't let you die."

"You don't know if I will!" Lana argued. "I wasn't the one who took the Cure. I was offspring. I could be perfectly fine!"

"Or you could fucking _die_," Damon snapped. "I'm not taking that chance with you."

Lana crossed her arms. "Fine," she brushed past him. "I'll go find Elena. Or Caroline. Or someone else and make them turn me into a vampire."

Damon flashed in front of her. "Don't you dare," he said darkly. She stood her ground.

"I want it to be you," she argued. "I want you to turn me this time. The right time. I never wanted to be turned by Stefan. I wanted _you_." Lana took his face in her hands. "We can do it right this time." She smiled. "Just think of it this way, if I get sired accidentally, it'll be to _you_…"

He frowned. "But if something goes wrong…?" he trailed off.

"It won't," Lana told him sternly. Damon looked at her with sorrowful eyes. Why did she have to do this to him?

He leaned forward and kissed her, trying to make it chaste. But the tension that had been dormant for the last two days had finally came out, and they exploded like a bomb. In the middle of the living room, for Katherine and Jeremy to see. Where _was _Jeremy?

Damon slipped his hands behind Lana's back and secured her frame. His lips slid to her neck, where his fangs pierced her skin. She bit her lip as he drank, slowly, and it was completely unnecessary. But he wanted to taste her blood just once before he let her turn again.

When he pulled away, he bit into his own wrist and brought it to her mouth. She grabbed it and drank the vampire blood, marveling at its taste. After a while, Damon pulled his wrist away and she nodded to him carefully. He leaned down and kissed her once before his fingers wrapped around her neck and _snap. _

She fell limp in his arms, her heart stopping abruptly. He lifted her onto his body and raced to his room, where he set her down on the bed so she would wake comfortable.

Now all he had to do was wait.

* * *

**Next chapter will be intense. Do you think Lana will just turn with no problems? LOL think again, this is ****_The Vampire Diaries, _****after all. **

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more updates!_**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	17. XVII

**So did you like where I left you last chapter? Now I promised things wouldn't get easier so here we go!**

**Enjoy it :)**

**Sorry for the long wait, I just needed a small break. But by the way, updates are going to be rare now since school starts back up again in a couple days so will you do me a favor and vote for the top two stories you would like me to update. I've refreshed the status and everything so it's all brand new :)**

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters. **

* * *

**_XVII_**

_Hours later_

"Why isn't she waking up?" Damon demanded. Katherine glared at him.

"It's not _my _fault you turned her into a vampire! I told you, Damon! She wasn't going to survive the death!" Katherine snapped angrily.

Lana lied on the bed, motionless. She had been out for ten hours, which wasn't normal to say the least. Damon tried waking her up, but she just lay there. He was afraid she was dead, but her body remained alive. She just didn't wake up.

"We have to find a way to bring her back," he barked.

Katherine looked at him hard. "I don't know if there is one."

"We have to find it!"

"Calm down, Damon!" Katherine ordered.

"Don't tell me to calm down, Katherine, you don't care about her the way I do!"

"You're so confusing, Damon," she countered. "Are you in love with this one or are you in love with Elena, because I'm not even sure anymore."

Damon was quiet. "I…I don't know." He let out an exasperated sigh. "But it won't make my choice any easier if she's _dead_. So we have to find a way to bring her back!"

Katherine was silent for a moment before she walked over to Damon, who had turned back to look at the motionless body on his bed. Carefully, she put a comforting hand on Damon's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Damon," she said softly. "I wish there as something I could do."

He sighed. "Maybe she just needs more time…" Damon thought, in denial partially.

Katherine nodded. "Maybe," she agreed, but she wasn't hopeful. "But you know, if she doesn't wake up…"

"She will." Damon nodded vigorously. "I'll find a way. I did this to her. I have to figure out a way to save her."

Katherine said no more, but there was a silence between them that spoke the truth. Damon would have to physically kill Lana or throw her in a ravine somewhere if she didn't wake up soon.

"Do you want something to eat?" she asked quietly, deciding not to push any more of Damon's buttons for now. "While we wait?"

Damon shook his head. "I…I can't think about that right now. I need the Gilbert journals. Get me the Gilbert journals."

"You won't find anything—"

"_Now_!"

Human Katherine was slightly frightened at Damon's harsh tone, so she backed away from him and nodded.

"Fine," she said. "I'll be right back."

Damon didn't turn around as she left the room; he only stared at the sleeping girl on the bed.

"Please," Damon growled. "Please, Lana _wake up_." He shook her, but she didn't move. Damon slammed his fist down on the bed. "Damn it, Lana _wake up_!"

"Damon," someone said softly at the door, and Damon turned around to see a doppelgänger, but he was sure who it was. Elena stood at the door, with an unusual expression on her face. Anger? Was that it?

"Elena," he breathed. "What are you doing—?"

"I have an hour off and I wanted to come and see you. Katherine called." Damon shook his head. That damn human doppelgänger. "What's going on?"

"She wanted me to turn her," Damon explained. "I _tried _to tell her she might not recover, but she didn't listen."

"Is she…?" Elena asked, confused.

"No," Damon answered. "That's the weird part – she's not dead. It's like she's frozen between being a human and being a vampire, it's…" Damon trailed ff. "Frustrating. We don't know how long it will last."

"What if she doesn't wake up?"

"She will," Damon said through his teeth. "I'll make sure of it."

"But, Damon—"

"Look, Elena," he said quickly. "I appreciate you coming here, but right now is not a good time. I need you to focus on college life and let me handle this. I'll find a way to wake her up."

"But, you're not _listening _to me," Elena told him firmly. "What if she doesn't wake up? There's a really good possibility that she _won't _wake up." Elena crossed her arms. "What are you going to do about it then?"

Damon shook his head. "She's going to wake up," he told her.

"What if she—?"

"_Stop_," Damon growled. "Just _stop_, Elena. I know you don't care about her, and I get that. You two have this…hatred thing going on, I get it. It may be because you just don't like each other or because you both are jealous, _I don't care_," he snapped. "She's waking up. End of story. I'll do whatever I have to do."

"You're in love with her, aren't you?" Elena whispered. "You always have been."

"I don't want to talk about this right now."

"Well when _is _it a good time to talk about this?" Elena yelled. "All you do is ignore me. My phone calls, my emails, my texts. The best I get is a response telling me that you can't talk right then and there. When is it a good time to go over the fact that you're in _love _with her and you're still with me?"

Just then, Katherine walked into the room, her face grimacing when she saw Elena. But she didn't dare make a move at her – Elena was more powerful than she was by far. Stupid humanity. She set the Gilbert journal box on the floor with a grunt.

"Being human is a _bitch_."

"You deserved it," Elena snapped.

"If I wasn't so weak right now, I'd—"

"Ladies," someone else said – and it wasn't Damon, Elena, or Katherine. Obviously, it wasn't Lana, because she was still on the bed, half-dead. "I don't think you have time to fight, am I correct?"

"Stefan?" Elena gasped.

"Try again." The Salvatore smiled. "I love using his body, though, it's very…poetic to all of you, it seems."

In a flash, Damon had Silas pinned to the wall and his voice was rough in Silas's face. "What are you doing here?" he growled. Silas just sighed and peeled Damon off of his body.

"I wouldn't try that again," Silas warned. "I have spent my summer consuming an immeasurable amount of blood." He paused to smile. "Besides." Silas crossed his hands behind his back. "I'm here to help you all with your…uh, Sleeping Beauty issue."

"How can you help us with her?" Damon growled. "You tried to kill me and said that all of us would be next."

Silas inhaled, opening his mouth. But then he shut it and smiled. "Trust me, it was necessary. Besides, I knew the girl wouldn't let you die. Though if she happened to, it would've been a bummer. Still, I wouldn't have cared."

"Get out of this house," Damon snarled. "You'll only make things worse."

Silas shook his head. "Actually," he said. "I'll make things _so _much better, you have _no _idea."

"Damon, don't listen to him," Elena warned. "He tried to kill you."

Silas turned his head to the doppelgänger. "It was necessary," he repeated. "What do you know, anyways, you silly little doppelgänger?" Silas turned back to Damon. "I can help you." He paused. "No catch involved."

Damon shook his head. "How can you help?" Damon asked.

Silas sighed. "Oh, if you must waste all this time!" He groaned. "_Fine_. I'll tell you. Your girlfriend over there is frozen in a state of half-vampirism and half-humanity. But such a creature is not allowed to exist." Silas paused. "She's fighting herself on the inside, battling between the humanity she has lost, but not quite reaching the vampirism she is offered. Unless the human part gives out, she will not return to consciousness and will stay like that – not dead, not undead – _forever_."

"And how do you fix that?" Katherine asked curiously. "What, we kill her again and again until she looses all humanity?"

"No." Silas rolled his eyes. "I held the cure for vampirism, and I also hold the cure for this not dead-not undead state," he explained and held up his wrist. Damon narrowed his eyes.

"Your blood is the cure?" Damon asked.

"Bravo!" Silas cheered. "Such a bright young man, I see."

"Then turn me back!" Katherine barked. "Now."

"Oh, Miss Pierce, that's not how it works." Silas shook his head. "Lana is an offspring of the Cure. She wasn't fully cured when she drank your blood." He smiled. "You, however, are the actual Cure now. You don't get to turn back into a vampire."

"Bullshit," Katherine sneered.

Silas sighed. "I—"

"No, she's right," Damon whispered. "Bullshit." He paused. "But not about Katherine, about Lana. It makes sense now."

Silas laughed. "And what would that 'sense' be now, hmm?"

"Hannah," Damon explained. Silas dropped his smile. "You changed her, with your blood. That's why she's addicted to vampire blood. That's why she only drinks vampire blood, it was _you_." Damon growled. "Bullshit. You change Lana into a vampire, she's addicted to vampire blood like Hannah is, you _freak. _There is a catch. I'm calling bullshit."

Silas grimaced. "Yes, I suppose you're right," Silas admitted. "There is that one tiny little detail." He paused. "But it's up to you, Damon. You can either let Miss Mercer have an inner battle between her humanity and her vampirism or you can let me heal her and deal with the fact that she will have to feed off of vampire blood, but it is entirely controllable." Silas smiled. "I'm guessing Hannah didn't have much of a coach when it came to her diet, did she?"

"Damon, don't do it," Elena pleaded. "Something else could go wrong with Lana. She could feed off of all of us. Don't let him change her. We'll find another way."

Damon didn't take his eyes off of Silas, and the psychic smiled. "There _is _no other way, Damon," he whispered. "But you knew that already."

Damon was quiet for a moment, and everything was still for a while. To what lengths would he go through to save the woman that he loved?

Well, one of them, at least.

"Do it," Damon growled. "Change her. Feed her."

"Damon!" Elena snapped. "No," she said to Silas. "Stop. Don't do it."

"You don't get to make this decision, Elena," Damon warned her. "You don't care about her at all. I do. Go back to school," he told her. Elena stood in her place. _"Now, _Elena," Damon said roughly.

Elena was stubborn for a moment or two, but she finally decided to turn and walk away, but it was the most reluctant thing she'd ever done in her life. Silas spread a smile on his face as he watched Elena walk out and moved over to Damon's bed. He pushed Lana's body over and sat down, tearing his teeth at his flesh and pulling her limp body towards his. Damon watched as Silas held Lana in his arms and pressed his wrist to her lips, forcing her to drink.

When he pulled his wrist away, he stayed still for a moment. Everything was quiet again.

Until there was a large gasp, and Lana's eyes snapped open to see Silas, grinning at her.

"Hello, love."

* * *

**Yay, so she's awake. I wasn't going to drag it out too painfully. Sorry for the short chapter…if it was short, this was just as much as I could put in this chapter right now. Originally, this chapter was supposed to be chapter 21, so…you could say I'm a little ahead, right? **

**It's okay, though, I'll find some way to break some other stuff up. **

**So…anyways, again sorry for the late update. I'll try and do this one more often, but I need you to go on my poll on my profile and vote for the top TWO stories you want me to update! I've reset everything so it's a fresh start. **

**:) Hope you liked it. **

**More soon, and it's going to start getting dark and complicated, and it won't be long before a ritual appears, because…you know, rituals + mystic falls gang = the vampire diaries, right? **

**_Reviews equal love and love equals more updates. _**

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	18. XVIII

**Hey, everyone! Sorry it's been a little while since the last update, but…you know, ****_school_****. Ugh. Anyways, so no more frequent updates like 24/7 because I'm in school now and blah. **

**So, there's a poll on my profile (and also a link to YouTube so…****_wink, wink_****) but if you would do me a favor and vote for the 2 stories you want me to update most, I do listen to them, because Keep On Runnin' was most voted and this was next. So just please vote because I need to know what you guys like me to update!**

**Sorry for the short chapter, but I really didn't have a lot to go off of. I think once we get to the next two chapters it'll start picking up. **

**So enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters**

* * *

**XVIII**

Damon sighed as he bounced down the stairs, just to see Elena waiting for him with a grimace on her face. He bit back a groan and just looked at her while she spoke.

"Where is she?" Elena asked.

"Upstairs in my room," Damon answered. "She…she needed a little time. She's probably taking a shower right now," Damon informed her. "What are you still doing here? Don't you have to get back to Whitmore?"

"My class got cancelled," Elena explained. "Besides, we need to talk."

Damon walked over to the alcohol tray and poured himself a drink. "About what, Elena?" he asked, taking a long gulp of the bourbon in his hands. "It's been a really stressful few hours. I'm not really in the mood for another fight."

"You can't keep pushing me away, Damon," Elena whined. "I chose you. I chose _you_. And you're treating me like…like—"

"Like you treated me when you were with Stefan?" Damon filled in. Elena crossed her arms over her chest and said nothing. "Yeah, Elena. Karma's a bitch. Get over it." He drank another gulp of his drink.

"Why are you being like this?" Elena demanded. She walked over to him and put her hands on his face. "Damon, I _love _you. You know that. You're pushing me away and driving yourself to _her_," Elena sneered.

Damon was quiet. "I love you, too," he said after a while. "But Lana and I have history," he explained. "That doesn't go away overnight."

Elena shook her head. "Right," she answered. "But it _does _go away. And you're not even putting any effort into it. Just let her go. Tell her to leave."

"I can't do that. Not now."

"Then where does that leave us?" Elena snapped. "Because I'm not going to watch you love someone right in front of me when you claim to love me more. You're lying to me, you're lying to her, and you're lying to yourself!" she barked. He was silent, and didn't open his mouth to speak this time. She removed her hands and stepped back. "Just…call me when you get everything figured out. I won't drop by anymore." Elena hesitated, as if waiting for Damon to respond, but instead she just left out the front door. Damon blew out a long breath through his mouth and continued pouring another drink for himself.

"You should go after her."

Damon's head snapped up to see Lana coming out of the hallway with a blood bag in her hand. She walked into the living room where he was pouring his drink. She looked so much better than before, and she acted like it.

Damon groaned. "I'm not in the mood to argue with you, too, Lana. We have more important things going on," he warned her.

Lana shook her head. "I don't want to cause problems between you and Elena. No matter how much I hate her, coming back – even as an emotionless bitch – I never intended to get in between that. You chose her, I have no right to get in the way of both of you."

Damon stared at her. "This isn't your problem," he assured her. "This is between me and Elena." Lana hung her head and turned over the blood bag in her hands. "Did you already complete the transition?"

Lana nodded. "Yes. Jeremy let me feed off of him. Though it wasn't very filling." She sighed heavily. "I thought blood bags would do the trick, but this is my third one and I'm still hungry."

Damon downed the bourbon in his cup and put it down on the table. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Yes?"

"It was Silas," Damon told her. "Silas turned Hannah into a vampire. And that's what caused her to get addicted to vampire blood."

Lana looked at him for a moment. "So?" she prompted. "You turned me. Your blood turned me into a vampire."

"No," Damon corrected her. "I mean…yes, technically, that was what killed you and turned you into a half-vampire. But Silas was the one who gave you that push. Which technically makes him the person who turned you."

She was quiet. "But…then that would mean…" she trailed off. "I'm…I'm going to be addicted to vampire blood now?"

"It's highly likely." He smiled in hopes of lightening the mood. "But hey, if you get hungry, I bet Vampire Barbie's free for a bite."

Lana sat down on the couch and ignored Damon's comment. "Damon…" She paused. "You have to lock me up. If I am addicted, then that means I'll do whatever it takes." Lana looked up at him. "Please. You need to lock me up right now," she said desperately.

Damon scoffed. "I'm not _locking _you up in that cellar with Hannah. Despite the fact that I just really don't want to do it, I can almost guarantee both of you will just eat each other. It'll be like a bad episode of _Man vs. Wild_," he quipped.

"This isn't funny!" Lana snapped. "If I go off the rails, there's no telling what I can do." In a random act of anger, she threw the bag of blood against the wall, and it splattered all over the paint. "It doesn't appeal to me, Damon! I'm just so _hungry_." She looked up at him. "Lock me up. Now."

He shook his head. "I'm not going to do that." He walked over to her and gripped her shoulders. "Silas said it was controllable if desired."

"He's a pathological liar!" Lana snapped. "That's what he does – he _lies_. I'm going to go insane, so just _please_, be a man and lock me up!"

Damon took one of his hands off of her shoulders and bit into his palm. He held it out and she sighed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, but she could feel the fangs poke at her through her mouth.

"I did this to you," Damon said softly. "So it's only fair you feed off of me. We're in this together," he promised.

She looked at him for a moment before she felt the veins sizzle under her eyes and the wound on his hand began to close up. But she didn't let that happen. She drew her fangs and bit into his hand, drawing more blood. The sweet, filling meal flowed down her throat and gave her a sense of satisfaction. Damon's hand was on her hair and she drank deeper, and her mind flashed back to the time back on the island where he fed off of her so he regained his strength. The feeling that ran through both of them was the same, if not more intense, as before.

Finally, she pulled away, finding the will to stop. Damon looked at her for a moment as she wiped his blood from her lips.

* * *

_"Hello, my shadow self," Silas – or Stefan – greeted. Stefan looked at Silas with wonder. What the…?_

_But before he could say anything, Silas lunged a punch into Stefan's heart, and Lana and Hannah tried to stop him. But Silas gave them a warning glare, and Hannah was only human. Lana protected Hannah with her arms as she glared at Silas. "What do you want?" she growled. "Let him go!"_

_"No can do," Silas admitted. "But your present's coming up soon, don't worry." He smiled._

_And it wasn't long before Stefan was locked in a safe and tumbling down to the bottom of the body of water that was intended for Silas._

_"Stefan!" Lana called out, but Silas, who shoved her to the ground in an instant, held her back._

_"Be patient," Silas commanded and looked at the mere human in the group. Hannah shook with fear. "I know exactly what I'm going to do with you, and I didn't even plan for you." Silas ripped his teeth into his own flesh, drawing blood that could only be torn from his own teeth. He shoved it into the human's mouth, only giving her one drop – which was all that was needed and offered. In a mere instant, he pulled away and snapped her neck, pushing her down to the bottom of the water, just like Stefan, though she would wake up a new and awakened vampire with an extra kick._

_"What are you doing?" Lana screamed, trying to go after her friend, but Silas held her back again._

_"Escaping before the final part of this elaborate gift?" Silas yelled. "I haven't finished yet, Lana Mercer, so here's your present."_

_He paused for a moment to yell out, "You can come out now!"_

_And from the trees that surrounded them came a young man, Lana's age, with a new appearance. He was tall and familiar._

_And she knew exactly who he was, which made her scramble away._

_"Peter," she said through her teeth, but she was detained by Silas's hold._

_"She's all yours," Silas told his accomplice, shoving the poor girl to Peter's arms, where he pulled out an injection needle, full of vervain._

* * *

Lana awoke from the vivid dream once more, panting heavily. Damon shot up in the bed, his eyes full of concern. His hands rested on her shoulders and she breathed slowly.

"Lana?" he asked, confused. "What happened?"

"Damon," she whispered. "Damon, it's bad."

"What?"

"I know what happened," she told him. "I know where Stefan went. I know what happened to Hannah. I know who Silas is."

* * *

**Sorry it was short, but at least I updated. I seriously have no time anymore, I don't even know how I have time to work on Keep On Runnin'. But, this was the best I could do in order to get a chapter out ASAP.**

_**Reviews equal love and love equals more updates. **_

_**Love, **_

_**KatherineSalvatore1918**_


	19. XIX

**...Hi guys *she says sheepishly* Oh, God. I sincerely apologize for my behavior for the last month...I've been sitting on this chapter ****_forever. _****I didn't like how it's been going so far, but that's really unfair to you guys. Please forgive me. **

**I will try my VERY HARDEST to update more. We're approaching the end soon, so I'm going to start picking up speed. Get ready for a shocker (? You might've guessed it) at the end of the chapter. **

**I hope I did it justice. Please try to be easier on me, I rarely have any motivation anymore. But I'm still going to try to finish this. You shouldn't have to suffer, so, for that I deeply apologize. **

**Enjoy this...LONG awaited chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Refer to earlier chapters.**

* * *

**_XIX_**

_"I know what happened. I know where Stefan went. I know what happened to Hannah. I know who Silas is." _

The quarry was dark, which wasn't unusual for this hour. Damon had insisted on waiting until morning, but Lana had dragged him out of the house with no argument. He felt like he should comfort her or…something.

But it wasn't the time for being sentimental. His brother was drowning over and over again in the bottom of a quarry.

And meanwhile, he had been playing house with Elena and off in Vegas with the other girl him and his brother got caught up with.

He was a terrible brother, and the second he rescued Stefan, he would apologize for it.

"Here it is," Lana said as she took in a deep breath, her breath shaking. "This is where it happened."

"Where what happened?" Damon asked, turning to her. "You spent the entire time in the car dodging my questions," he pointed out. She sighed. "What happened?"

"It was Silas," she explained. "We were going to drop him in there"—Lana pointed to the quarry water—"but he was gone. He revealed himself as Elena and…at first, he started hinting that he was another doppelgänger." She looked up at Damon. "He is."

"He's another doppelgänger?" Damon asked, groaning. "If I hear the word 'doppelgänger' one more time—"

"Damon," Lana cut him off, her tone not amused. "This isn't funny. _He's _not a doppelgänger. Stefan is." Damon said nothing so she continued. "Or…a _shadow self. _That's the term Silas used."

Damon ran a hand through his hair. "What happened next?" he asked.

"He locked Stefan in the safe we brought him in and threw him down into the quarry. I tried to help, so did Hannah, but he fought back. We couldn't save Stefan."

"Then?"

"Then he fed Hannah his blood, snapped her neck, threw her in the quarry, and turned to me. The next thing I remember was being…locked up in a cellar and Peter was torturing me." She shook her head roughly. "Damon, we need to get him out of there," Lana said desperately. He took a step closer and gripped her by her shoulders.

"Hey," he said softly. "We'll get him out, okay? I promise. But we can't just jump in there and save him, it's a lot of water to cover. I'll get Sheriff Forbes in the morning and we'll find him. I promise." Damon nodded his head, as if trying to get her to repeat it. She did, eventually, and he leaned forward to press a light kiss on her lips, but instead, they were interrupted.

"Well, isn't that sweet?"

Lana and Damon turned to see Silas walking out of the forest, a slaphappy grin on his face. He looked like Stefan, and they no longer asked if he could snap out of the body he was pretending to be in – because it was his own body.

"What are you doing here?" Damon growled. "Haven't you done enough for one night?"

Silas laughed. "I guess you finally remembered," he said, looking at Lana. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why'd you do it?" she pressured. "Why'd you throw Stefan to the bottom of the quarry? You didn't have to."

Silas shrugged. "I need him for something," he admitted, looking down at the quarry. "And when I need him, I will know _exactly _where to find him." He brought his eyes to look up at Lana. "Just like I knew exactly where you were. Until you escaped, of course." He waved a finger at her. "That was a bit of a problem, but I have seemed to have managed."

Lana raised her eyebrows. "So you just handed me over to Peter because you wanted to keep me _safe_?" she sneered.

Silas laughed again. "No," he said, earning a confused look from the brunette. "I took you and tortured you in a cellar pretending to be your ex-boyfriend," he scoffed. "I'm surprised you didn't realize that earlier."

Lana gaped. "You…_what_?"

"Yeah." Silas shrugged once more. "We had the _best _of times." A sick smile spread across his face. "But I prefer our time in Atlanta the best."

And the whole world spun. "What?" she asked again, her question barely audible. But Silas heard it, and he smiled widely.

"You heard me." He stepped closer. Damon stepped in front of Lana.

"What's going on?" he demanded. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," Silas persisted. "As of the moment," he added.

Lana pushed Damon to the side and stepped forward towards the immortal. "You pretended to be Klaus? You pretended to give me Klaus's blood to heal Damon? You planned the whole thing? How did you even get Elijah in on your plan?"

"Easy. I pretended to be Klaus and asked him to help me." Silas sighed. "But you're missing the point," he sung.

"No, I'm _not_!"

Silas frowned. "Let me just cut to the chase," he snapped. "You have a choice." He looked at Lana and Damon. "Both of you. You can either save Stefan," he propositioned. "Or…"

"Or what?" Damon growled. "Get to the point."

"You either save Stefan or you save yourself," Silas said at last. Both of them raised their eyebrows, but all was understood when Silas brought out two small syringes filled with dark, rich liquid. "This is my blood," he explained. "It's the cure to your vampire blood cravings," he added with a smile. Damon and Lana stared at him, waiting for more. "So, this is your choice. Get rid of the cravings – for both you _and _Hannah – or save your brother," the proposition was directed towards the both of them, but Silas turned his head to the Salvatore. "Though, the final answer is up to you, Damon."

Lana turned Damon's shoulder to face her. "Don't do it," she pleaded. "We'll find another way to save me. We need to save your brother."

"Actually," Silas interrupted them. Damon turned around to face the immortal. "I was lying. Each day you go on as a vampire, the hunger will grow stronger and stronger until human blood will no longer appeal to you at all. In fact, you will not be able to drink it," Silas explained. He looked at Damon. "So? What's it going to be?"

"Damon," Lana began, but Damon turned around to shake his head at her.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly. At first, she was relieved. He was going to do the right thing – save his brother over her. That's what she wanted. That's what she thought he wanted.

She was wrong.

"Give us the blood, Silas."

* * *

Damon let the needle slide into the weakened Hannah's arm, and she croaked out a small groan. He pressed down the top and injected the blood into Hannah's system, and almost instantaneously, color returned to her face. Lana stood at the cellar door, her arms over her chest, watching her best friend become healthy again. Damon took the syringe out of Hannah's arm and picked up a blood bag from the floor. With a snatch, Hannah took it and began to feed on it almost angrily. It seemed to satisfy her hunger.

When they were finished with Hannah and had directed her up the stairs so she could clean up and get more rest, it left Damon and Lana alone. Lana was still angry at Damon for choosing her over his own flesh and blood.

"I chose to save your life," Damon said slowly, "and you're angry with me?"

"You should've saved Stefan," Lana barked. "This wasn't your choice to make!"

"Silas _told _me it was my choice," Damon snapped. "I chose you! What's so wrong with it?"

"Your brother is drowning _over _and _over _again at the bottom of a quarry!" Lana shouted. "And yet, you choose to heal me and Hannah over a simple problem like being addicted to vampire blood?" It was a scream.

"You heard Silas! You wouldn't be able to control it. The only reason I let him turn you was because I thought it wouldn't become as bad!"

"Then you should've let me die!"

"Will you guys keep it _down_?" Katherine snapped from the ledge on the staircase. Damon and Lana looked up to see the doppelgänger, her eyes narrowing. "Some people need sleep."

"Sorry," Damon mumbled and Katherine nodded and went back upstairs. Damon crossed his arms and looked at Lana. "I did this for you, why can't you be happy?"

Lana shook her head. "We shouldn't be happy," she told him carefully. "We should be trying to save Stefan."

Damon sighed heavily. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it now," he said, moving over to the living room. Lana turned to face him. "We'll find another way," he promised. "I'll save my brother." He grabbed the second syringe that he left on the alcohol table and turned around to face Lana. "But first thing's first," he started. "You need to take this."

Lana shook her head. "I can't," she said to him. "I feel wrong taking it."

Damon chuckled. "After _all _of this fighting, you won't even take it?" he asked in disbelief. Lana sighed. Maybe he was right. Damon thrust the syringe into her hand and she willingly curled her fingers around it. He looked at her, as if waiting to see her take it, but she just leaned forward and kissed him in the most platonic way she could. When she pulled away, she leaned against his forehead.

"I just…" she trailed off.

"I understand," Damon cut her off. "I'll be in my room," he promised, giving her empty hand a squeeze. She nodded and he left her, traveling up the stairs.

When he was out of her sight, she walked into the study and looked through at the books. She narrowed her eyes and made her way to a box in the corner of the room, hidden between two books. She stuck out her hand and grabbed the box. Finding nothing inside, she took the syringe and placed it in the empty box and slid it back into the bookshelf. She hated to lie to Damon, but she would have to find Stefan first before she took the cure.

As she was about to join Damon in the bedroom, she realized that there was a stack of envelopes on a table beside the couches. She looked at it curiously and realized that yesterday she was supposed to get the results for the DNA test back. Quickly, Lana walked over to the table and shuffled through the week-old mail. Soon, when she came to the end of the pile, she saw an envelope addressed to her. There was a chart full of numbers, and she rarely understood what they meant, until her eyes skimmed the conclusion.

**Conclusion: **

_Based on the results obtained from the analyses of the alleles, CSF1PO, D2S1338, D0R818, D4S1179, D83S317, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11, FGA, THO1, TPOX, vWA, and Amelogenin, LANA MERCER and KATHERINE PIERCE are 596.3 times more likely to be siblings as compared to an untested, unrelated person of the general population. The two people tested are likely to be biologically related as full siblings (sharing both parents). _

* * *

**So...there you have it. Katherine and Lana are related. They're not really sisters, but since Katherine is now human after being a vampire for a long time, her blood is newer. But nevertheless, they're related. **

**I promise I will try to update more. Once again, I sincerely apologize. **

**_Love, _**

**_KatherineSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


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